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MARCH 2022 ISSUE 17 aspiremagz.com —

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HUMAN 2.0

Augmentation Technologies to make you a superhero

Kanika Shori Gupta Bringing home décor to the affordable segment

Twitter Spaces

This new feature by Twitter is not to be missed

ASPIRATIONAL WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE Paddy Kennedy, Angela Soudi and Racha Haffar. What makes them a woman of AWE!

-- THE BUSINESS OF FORMUL A ONE -It’s much more than just a racing sport

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Inside www.aspiremagz.com

ASPIRATIONAL WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE Paddy Kennedy, Racha Haffar, and Angela Soudi. Whether on their own steam or with the support of a dear one, these women are unstoppable. Meet our women of AWE!

5 Bulletin Bytes

Interesting news from around the world!

8 The Green Capital

Venture capitalists are increasing investment in sustainable businesses. Look into why this trend is catching steam

12 Human 2.0: The Augmented Human

As augmentation technologies continue to transcend new boundaries every day, look at what may be in the offing for Humans 2.0

INSIDE 16 The ice of immortality

Most humans would like to live forever. We may have the answer in Cryogenics; or maybe not

18 Events

Important events in the region

28 Dressing Up Your Home

After Square Yards massive success, Kanika Gupta Shori has launched her affordable home décor venture ‘Interior Company’

Explore ‘Twitter Spaces’, a recently unveiled feature on Twitter platform with empowering capabilities

38 Getting Smart at LinkedIn

Three tips that can tip the scale in helping you grow your business or brand on LinkedIn

Art Traction

32 Boss-Bytes

42 Product Prototype: The Development Curve

Meet Ranjana Gupta, a litigating lawyer whose artistic creations are as charming as she is

ASPIRE rounds up three women leaders who have managed to build a name for themselves

34 The Business of F1

With the 2022 edition of Formula One all set to take off, look at the high-stake business side of the game ASPIRE — M A R C H — 2 0 2 2

Your Voice to the Masses

40 Crypto Currency: Understanding the Basics

Taking money back to basics to decrypt the cloud around cryptocurrency

In this series of Being a CEO of a Startup, we look at product development, marketing, and legal protection

44 Art and Activism

Connecting women worldwide through art, Zaahirah Muthy talks about her passion for art and activism

PUBLISHER

Sumeet Gupta E: sumeet@aspiredubai.ae CHIEF EDITOR

46 Lose your heart to Lisbon

Take a trip to explore lively Lisbon and be part of the Sónar Music Festival happening in April

50 Veganism – A New Lifestyle

Understand Veganism, to make a switch to this plantbased diet and a new lifestyle

52 Enter the ‘NX’T with Lexus

Take a look at the Lexus Nx 2022 edition that is sure to mesmerize hybrid-hunters

54 Behind Closed Doors Having an organized wardrobe is key to always go into the closet and come out dressed en pointe

58 Aspire+

What must you Read / Watch / Wear / Do this month to keep you effortlessly in the loop beyond business

60 A Question of Principle Here is why some things in life we cannot and should not negotiate

Shagufta Patel E: editor@aspiredubai.ae CONSULTING EDITOR

Sangeetha Shinde Tee HONORARY EDITOR

Rizwan Bhutta JUNIOR EDITORIAL MANAGER

Qiraat Attar EDITORIAL

Pallavi Biju Clarilda Sharon Sreeram Vishvanath Misbaah Mansuri EDITORIAL INTERN

S Deepika PRODUCTION

The Purple Stroke M: +971 508 498820

O: 1601, Corporate Business Hub, Burj Gate, Dubai, United Arab Emirates W: thepurplestroke.com

Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the persmission of The Purple Stroke FZE LLC. All the information carried herein is checked and verified to the best of our knowledge and abilities. In matters of views expressed and opinions held, it is solely that of the authors and contributors themselves. The editorial or publisher or ASPIRE cannot be held responsible for unintended errors and oversights if any.

Email: hello@aspiredubai.ae 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Editor's note Bloodshed

hen we hear of bloodshed, our first thought and the instinctive images we conjure up are of battlefields and acts of violence and brutality, of mortifying accidents and operating tables. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war (and the many many wars before) is a perfect example of what a bloody bloodshed looks like. It brings nothing but destruction, pain, and grief… a lot of grief. We have made it to be the way it is. Bloodshed, which is the most natural process, has taken on a different meaning altogether and not one we particularly like. Bloodshed is also nature’s way of preparing a woman for motherhood. Month after month, the uterus gets ready to welcome its guest that it’s going to nurture and grow till it’s time for the baby to say hello to the world. ‘No guest’. The preps are shed to begin all over again. Isn’t bloodshed the most intricately designed process vital to the creation of life… indispensable to the creation of you and me? So let’s keep it that way, shall we? A beautiful nurturing process. And women certainly feel honored to be bestowed with this privilege.

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Bloodshed is awesome! And so are Paddy Kennedy, Racha Haffar, and Angela Soudi. Each one with their own unique fabulous story is our women of AWE – Aspirational Women of Excellence who have shown what it takes to stand their ground. Kanika Gupta Shori, Ranjana Gupta, Priya M Nair, Dr. Anumeha Bhatnagar Rai, Rameshwari Adnani, and Zaahirah Muthy are more women who have shaped their life believing in only one person – themselves. Be it sustainable Venture Capitalism, Human Augmentation technology, or the debate on the ethics or feasibility of Cryogenics; be it the business of Formula One or introduction of ‘Twitter Spaces’; be it LinkedIn Marketing strategies, funda-

mentals of Cryptocurrency, or the development curve of a product; be it the fun at the Sónar Music festival at Lisbon or Veganism as a Lifestyle; be it the delight of an Organized Wardrobe or owning a luxury Lexus NX; be it the things in life we must not negotiate or the ten habits we should adopt; one thing won’t ever change – the precious way each life is created to be born. Let’s not lose one more life to a bloody bloodshed. Let’s keep the word sacrosanct and mean what it truly is – life-giving! 

Bulletin

Netflix acquires game developer Next Games for $72 million Netflix announces plans to acquire Finland-based mobile games developer Next Games for $72 million. This is Netflix’s second games-related acquisition after the streaming platform bought Night School Studio, a game developing studio known for “Oxenfree”, a supernatural mystery adventure title. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022. All Next Games issued and outstanding shares will be

bought by Netflix under the terms of the agreement, and Next Games shareholders will receive 2.10 Euros per share in cash, more than double of the company’s price as of 1st March 2022, as a part of the tender offer. Next Games board of directors has unanimously agreed to advise shareholders to accept the offer. The acquisition comes following Microsoft’s plan to buy Activision Blizzard. It comes at a time when Big Tech companies like Apple,

Facebook-owner Meta, and Microsoft expand their investments into video games, hence extending Silicon Valley’s push into the sector. “Next Games has an experienced management team with a strong track record in mobile gaming and strong operational capabilities,” said Michael Verdu, Vice President of gaming at Netflix. “We are delighted to have Next Games join Netflix as a strategic regional and key player A core studio for the talent mar-

Next Games shareholders will receive 2.10 Euros per share in cash, more than double of the company’s price as of 1st March 2022, as a part of the tender offer

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Bulletin ket, expanding the capabilities of our in-house game studio. While our games are just getting started, I believe that together with Next Games, we will be able to build a world-class portfolio of games that will delight our members around the world.” Netflix is an OTT (Over-thetop) service provider based in the US, offering internet video on demand in various countries around the world. The company also provides a single-rate DVD rental service which functions on a mail-in basis in the United States, sending DVDs and Blueray rental discs to customers through return envelopes. Founded in 2013, Next Games is known for creating mobile games based on Netflix’s hit shows, the most well-known of which is “Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales”, a story-driven RPG (role-playing game). At the end of 2021, the company had recorded sales of €27.2 million in 2020, with 95 percent of income coming from in-game purchases. Teemu Huuhtanen, CEO of

Next Games, said, “Joining forces with Netflix, the world’s largest streaming service, is a logical and exciting extension of our plan to create interactive experiences for the globe to enjoy. Our close collaboration on Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales with Netflix has already demonstrated that we make a powerful team. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve the studio on all fronts and continue on our shared mission.”

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Four Entrepreneurs stand a chance to gain access to the mediterranean market via Stand Up! Project Four eco-innovative entrepreneurs can get an opportunity to access Mediterranean markets as well as connect with various players in the regional value chain through STAND Up! Project. STAND Up, which is an acronym for Sustainable Textile Action for Networking and Development, is funded by the European Union under the ENI CBC Med Programme, designed to support eco-innovative entrepreneurs and enterprises operating in the textile and clothing sector. A key industry in the Mediterranean with an obvious cross-border aspect, the textile sector needs to transition to a circular model that is more environmentally and socially responsible, which is what the STAND Up! project aims to achieve. The project seeks to support textile entrepreneurs and eco-innovation projects in five participating countries, allowing them to benefit from the opportunities and jobs that the green revolution will inevitably

The textile sector needs to transition to a circular model that is more environmentally and socially responsible

generate in the region. As the project’s local partners, The Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies (CITET) and the Technical Centre of Textile (CETTEX) issued an invitation for applicants to select four eco-innovative entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur will receive vouchers of over €4,000 each. In exchange for these vouchers, companies can expand their markets in the Mediterranean. Startups that wish to develop their business in STAND Up! target countries, namely, Italy, Lebanon, Egypt, Spain, and Tunisia, will be given priority. This open call is for startups or independent eco-entrepreneurs with at least one prototype/ product/service in the environmentally sustainable textile and clothing industries, whether they are just starting out or have reached the growth phase of their business. The business is required to have a positive social and environmental impact in Tunisia. Applications are open from 28th February to 31st March.

Dubai Silicon Oasis launches programme to assist early-stage start-ups Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) announced the inception of SANDBOX, the region’s novel start-up program aimed to assist early-stage technology-based startups in raising funds and augmenting their business. The program, which launched at GITEX Future Stars in October 2021, has received more than 600 applications from startups and entrepreneurs within four months of its launch. Out of the multitude of applicants, only 12 tech-focused startups have been accepted to join the year-long program developed and run by DSO’s tech hub and co-working space, Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus. “Nearly 95 percent of the companies operating in Dubai are SMEs, and they employ 42 percent of the workforce in the private sector. Nonetheless, there is a gap in funding for early-stage startups and entrepreneurs. This program addresses precisely that requirement,” said Dr. Juma Al Matrooshi, Director General of Dubai Silicon Oasis. He added that the program supports start-ups, focusing on those who have innovative and promising tech-driven innovations, to have a chance in the challenging world of UAE businesses. Build on the six key pillars of product development, traction, scaling, financial diagnostics, legal support, and wellness, SANDBOX, DTEC’s landmark program, will nurture the existing spirited community of entrepreneurs in the MENA’s largest tech hub. SANDBOX participants have access to leading venture capital funds and broad services provided by DTEC’s partners along with exclusive company setup rates from DTEC, which recognizes the importance of helping startups in

their early stages. The early-stage startups that make up the first group of the program include Delivers.ai, an autonomous network of robots focusing on last-mile delivery; Ingeniodata, an IoT company that offers an indoor wayfinding solution merging map augmented reality; Revent, a specialized B2C marketplace dedicated to pre-owned devices; Distichain, a platform that delivers white-label B2B marketplaces-as-a-service using blockchain and artificial intelligence and many other promising companies. The startups will follow an organized curriculum, including practical and theoretical workshops, networking opportunities, and mentorship sessions. Participants will highly benefit from the 200+ hours of practical workshops that place focus on the six pillars as well as 100+ hours of one-onone mentorship with industry experts and practitioners. “When we first envisioned

Nearly 95 percent of the companies operating in Dubai are SMEs, and they employ 42 percent of the workforce in the private sector. Dr. Juma Al Matrooshi, Director General of Dubai Silicon Oasis

SANDBOX, we were confident it would grab the attention of the entrepreneurial world, and we are proud to see so many come forward to apply. It was a tough process to go through all the applications and to shortlist a handful, but the program follows a rolling application process, so we’re happy to keep registration doors open. We are excited to see what these 12 chosen startups will do with their time and experience here,” continued Dr. Al Matrooshi. According to the Dubai FDI monitor data, FDI reinvestment projects accounted for 11% of the total FDI projects in the Emirate. Meanwhile, job creation due to GDI rose 36% as compared to 2020 in the first nine months of 2021, creating a total of 16,430 new jobs. During the period, the total number of FDI projects increased by 16%, of which as much as 58% of inbound FDI is in strategic sectors, and 52% is in greenfield projects.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Trending

THE GREEN CAPITAL

Private players are increasing investment into sustainable businesses across sectors like food and agriculture, cities, energy and materials, and health and well-being. Qiraat Attar looks into why this trend is catching on

he business paradigm comprises several factions that uphold their end of the deal to create a successful enterprise. Entrepreneurs are the idea-makers, without whom business is impossible. However, the history of private businesses would be a very short and dismal one without the existence of investors. When an idea is new and untested, with the brains behind it naive or unseasoned, formal setups like banks and co-ops often turn away from supporting an underdog. In such a scenario, a wise investor makes all the difference, placing their bets on new ideas and businesses they see potential, growth, and success in long before anyone else does. Beyond garden-variety investment, the rise of venture capitalism, where investors give money to those startups they see a surging potential in, has changed the shape of several industries, including tech. Since its emergence in the 1970s, VC has grown in strength. About 3 of 4 startups fail, so VCs refrain from putting all their eggs in one basket and prefer to diversify among several upcoming companies so that a single successful venture covers the failing costs of the others. For this reason, tech startups have no trouble securing VC funding

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because they promise tremendous returns owing to their ability to scale. Now, a new wave of VC is starting to proliferate and garner attention, much to the surprise of those who believe in traditional investment principles - sustainable venture capitalism. Simply put, sustainable VCs are on the lookout for startups that are innovating ideas, products, and services that take the environment into consideration while also showcasing enormous growth potential. VCs act as the guiding light for these ‘green tech’ firms to learn how to use the capital, set up processes, and navigate the finer points of business building and growth in the early stages. Famed VC John Doerr is bought into the game-changing investing opportunity offered by sustainable ventures. According to him, “Green-

ways in which sustainable VC is categorized so that you can understand the space before you foray headlong into it. Firstly, there is a key differentiator segregating sustainable investment from the more traditional model. Here, the deciding factors are not wholly dependent on profit, ownership, scalability, or expansion, but rather on considering environmental, societal, and governance-related (ESG) factors, which will be invaluable in the long term. Thus, while the markers of traditional VC are important, they are not singular dealbreakers. A cool way to grasp this is to look at sustainable investment as an addition to investment theory rather than as an embargo from the old method.

THE MANY BRANCHES OF SUSTAINABLE VCS ARE: ESG Easing into it, ESG refers to an investment’s environmental, social, and governance practices that may have a material impact on its performance. What’s important to discern is that while the financial outcome is still the main objective, the integration of ESG factors is used to enhance traditional financial analysis by identifying potential risks and opportunities beyond technical valuations. Martin Kremenstein, head of retirement and ETF solutions at Nuveen, explains ESG metrics in more detail. “It’s about analyzing companies and comparing them to their peers on ESG metrics. E, or Environment, stands for how efficient they are at managing their resources but also caring for the environment. S, or Social, stands for how well they treat clients, workers, and lower-level employees. It also includes the diversity aspect of the company staff. G, or Governance, talks about share structure, governance structure, and how well run the company is. Essentially, it is about tech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st Century.”

BRANCHING WITH SUSTAINABILITY Sustainable VCs are relatively new to the investment business. Kicking off in the early 2000s, their growth has since been unstoppable. In 2002, roughly 43 clean energy startups received venture capital funding in the US, raising a total amount of around $230 million. Merely 20 years later, investors allocated about $64 billion in total funding to cleantech businesses in the first half of 2021, which is anticipated to cross $100 billion in the coming time (Source: Cleantech Group survey). However, given its recency, it’s easy to get muddled up and put all sustainable companies under one umbrella. Rather, let’s understand the subtle

ESG REFERS TO AN INVESTMENT’S ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE PRACTICES THAT MAY HAVE A MATERIAL IMPACT ON ITS PERFORMANCE assessing the company without looking much at the balance sheet and more about how it benefits society at large.” It is interesting for us to note that even traditionally tech and manufacturing organizations try to amass an impressive ESG source in order 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Trending to prove their accountability towards people, the environment and society, not just profitability. As per Investors Business Daily, tech giants Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Nvidia, Accenture, and non-tech companies like Linde, J.B. Hunt, and Gildan Activewear all have secured ESG scores of 70 and above.

SRI Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) goes one step further than ESG by actively eliminating or selecting investments according to specific ethical guidelines. It means, if you’d like to leave the world

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT FIRMS DOING NOTABLE WORK: 4 WORLD FUND, GERMANY – A €350 million climate tech venture fund initiated by German tech startup Ecosia. Climate performance is a key indicator for funding: solutions should save at least 100M tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Source: The recursive)

4 ABB TECHNOLOGY VENTURES, SWITZERLAND – A global strategic venture capital investing in breakthrough industrial technology startups, from electrification to robotics and automation. Has invested more than $200 million. (Source: The recursive)

4 ENERGY IMPACT PARTNERS, NEW YORK CITY, US - This $1.1 billion VC firm is one of the best clean energy venture capital firms in New York City focusing 10

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on startups optimizing energy consumption and boosting green energy production. The company invests in ground-breaking energy startups and helps them grow by partnering them with well-known companies and utilities. 4 BREAKTHROUGH ENERGY VENTURES, US – A $1 billion fund launched by Bill Gates to invest in early stage startups with disruptive technologies for the green transition. 4 CLEAN ENERGY VENTURE GROUP, MASSACHUSETTS, US - This +$500 million strives to invest in firms that specifically focus on climate change while ensuring attractive financial returns. They provide funding and bring years of energy expertise to assist businesses in their growth.

better than you inherited it or be associated with a company that tackles challenges the world faces, this is for you. But, of course, this isn’t all goodwill either; going for such companies can enhance your risk-return profile. Here, an investor’s or VC’s personal value system and ideology are hugely in play. If they champion the cause of gender equality, elimination of race bias, providing rehabilitation for refugees, or protecting the marine ecosystem in particular, these play a role when going for SRI.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING (SRI) GOES ONE STEP FURTHER THAN ESG BY ACTIVELY ELIMINATING OR SELECTING INVESTMENTS ACCORDING TO SPECIFIC ETHICAL GUIDELINES Want to know what investment companies have sustainability standards? Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF, or ESGV, excludes stocks of those companies that don’t meet UN global compact principles standards or don’t meet certain diversity criteria. 1919 Socially Responsible Balanced Fund (SSIAX) criteria exclude companies that dabble in fossil fuel tangible assets, instead choosing companies with fair employment practices and seeking assets that take human rights into consideration.

Impact Investing In impact or thematic investing, investments need to churn out positive impact through the companies they choose. Being a facet of the SRI spectrum, they’re looking for intentional outcome orientation, providing benefits to marginalized groups, and pushing for innovation that could potentially change the world for the better. While SRIs may leave out weapons or unethical drug companies, where ESG factors also come into play, impact investment demands that they go a step ahead than just excluding negative companies. Capital is invested in a certain opportunity that yields return through endeavors that care for the planet. Wunder Capital is an impact investment platform where the money is used to finance solar panel installation companies. CNote is a company that invests in minority-owned businesses. On a more involved level, a venture-building program and startup studio based in The Netherlands called Fresh ventures allows people to co-found companies with skillful professionals and entrepreneurs to address systemic challenges in the food system.

Sustain to Maintain the Planet Clean tech was an emerging market at one other previous point in history - prior to 2008 when investment in the domain went from hundreds of millions of dollars to $1.75 billion and further tripled by 2008. However, the shock of the 2008 recession toppled even sure-shot businesses, and sustainable companies were not immune. Additionally, the fierce competition from the solar energy industry in China and reduction in prices of fossil fuels sent companies back into the safe shelter of petrol, diesel, and natural gas for all their energy needs. The point we stand at in the present is once again history in the making. Our reliance on fossil fuel and other energy-intensive industries is under close scrutiny right now. Our over-reliance on these industries and even their tactics to undermine renewable resources has caused a huge fallout as far as the future of the planet is concerned. As a consequence, most countries have pledged to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, petrol-guzzling industries and make an honest attempt towards sustainable initiatives, which was evident by the pledges made leading up to and at the Glasgow Climate Summit last year. What does this mean? Either gradually or even unceremoniously, countries will scramble towards sustainable ventures in an instant if new legislatures are enforced. Investors are savvy; they’re starting to change their tune in the intro itself rather than at the crescendo. Sustainable VC, while a fairly new form of investment, looks not only for profit but also for impact on the environment and society, taking

into account myriad factors such as ethics, governance, gender dynamics, philanthropy, and a commitment to the restoration and improvement of the planet. What do you observe if you look at the rise in movements these days? First, a few trends that are capturing the attention of people and going from fads to habits are thrifted goods, such as pre-loved clothing (which was earlier derided as ‘second-hand clothes’), DIY furniture and decor, a rejection of fast fashion, minimalism, veganism, supporting small businesses, curbing your carbon footprint among other trends. The second, these ideas are the bastions of millennials and Gen Zs, which are the generation that comprise the customers, users, moneymakers of the present, and the inheritors of the planet in the future. The bottom line is, sustainable VCs are a way of moving forward. This space may not be bursting on its own in the technical sense, but rather like more conscious movements, there is deliberate crafting and push to make them happen. Thus, unlike need-based movements like the industrial revolution, where ethics or balance were sidestepped for technology and progress to gain footing, these

SUSTAINABLE VC, WHILE A FAIRLY NEW FORM OF INVESTMENT, LOOKS NOT ONLY FOR PROFIT BUT ALSO FOR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT MYRIAD FACTORS movements will see a conscious evolution where at every step, the question to be answered will be, “But how does this decision impact the environment and society?” We can be excited and heartened for a world where instead of lip-service to good causes or philanthropy for positive press and tax breaks, the business model will ask itself the hard questions before taking the next step. If money is what makes the world go round, then this handshake agreement between profit and sustainability could just be the paradigm shift the world desperately needs.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

HUMAN The Augmented Human Ever dreamed of flying like Superman, or shooting webs out of your wrist like Spiderman? Well, soon enough, these far-fetched fantasies could be our reality. PALLAVI BIJU probes into the phenomenal world of Human Augmentation and how it will impact our life in the near-future

id you know that humans can run at 27.5 km per hour? Or dive the depth of four leaning towers of Pisa stacked atop each other, roughly 700 feet underwater? Or that our bodies are naturally equipped to fight millions of diseases, including cancer? At our best, we can compose music and write mathematical equations that shape our understanding of the earth and universe beyond. To evolve is the law of all living creatures. But for sentient beings like us, we’ve pushed past natural evolution and are now testing further barriers with artificial augmentation. Thanks to genetic engineering, medicine, science, and

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technology, human augmentation builds a towering edifice of capabilities atop our innate abilities. The human augmentation market was projected to grow from 71 billion dollars in 2019 to over 206 billion dollars by 2024 (Source: MarketWatch). Not to get ahead of ourselves, but does it mean we have a shot at a future where we will be able to teleport, fly, and read minds, not unlike a real-life Avenger?

A FACE-LIFT OF OUR ABILITIES

The modification or addition to our natural bodies is not a new phenomenon. The oldest evidence

2.0

Tech love of brain-computer interfaces was stormed when Philip O’Keefe, a paralyzed man, made his first ‘direct-thought tweet’, using a chip implanted in his brain developed by neurovascular bioelectronics medicine company Synchron. What does it all mean? Simply put, we now wield technologies that inch us closer and closer to an exalted state of human potential.

EVERYBODY GETS TO BE SUPERMAN

Some augmentation technology primarily works to replicate typical human abilities. Routinely, these technologies have aided the differently-abled live a more comfortable, independent life, such as prosthetic limbs and hearing aids. Replicating human augmentation technology is now even being developed to create body tissues! This still-nascent

Philip O’Keefe, a paralyzed man, made his first ‘direct-thought tweet’, using a chip implanted in his brain developed by neurovascular bioelectronics medicine company Synchron

of tattoos was found in 3370 BC, and piercings were etched on stone depictions of humans dating back to around the 9th century BC. Plastic surgery began in 800 BC, first as a cruel punishment, later on, to reconstruct soldiers’ faces after World War 1. While we started with aesthetic or cosmetic inclinations, we quickly went beyond it. Human intelligence no longer lingers within its outdated confines. With the advent of smartphones and connected devices, we’ve gone “where no man has gone before” in terms of the avalanche of knowledge that hovers at the touch of our fingers. And most recently, the next bastion in the arena

technology, known as Bio-printing, creates organic tissues by a method reminiscent of 3D printing. Carrying the potential to completely revolutionize the healthcare industry as we know it, it can help create bones, skin, or organs to replace damaged ones. So, in a few years, if you shatter a bone beyond repair, you don’t have to tolerate a scratchy cast for several weeks. Just go to the doctor, wait for 5 - 10 mins, and lo and behold, you have a new bone to replace the old one with! The next kind of human augmentation supplements human abilities, taking you from Clark Kent to Superman. To grasp the concept, imagine running at 25 km/hr without any training or lifting 200 pounds with one hand, without even stepping foot at the gym! Beyond challenging physical and intellectual capabilities, you can also fathom other languages artificially. With the aid of augmentation devices 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Tech love  Turbine powered Zapata Flyboard Air  WT2 Plus AI Real-time Translator Earbuds

like the WT2 Plus AI Real-time Translator Earbuds or the MOGOI Language Translator Headset, one can follow spoken jargon and communicate in up to 45 languages, sans training. Filling a dire need, these can be of great help to travelers or employees of multi-national corporations, bridging the awkward communication gap to create a more inclusive, communicative, and understanding environment. As the name suggests, Exceeding Human Augmentation technology exceeds our physical and intellectual capability to perform tasks, entirely blazing past human limitations. This category of augmentation strives to make the rhetorical ‘impossible’ possible, such as being invisible or even flying! Much of the tech here has theoretically been in the works for years, like creating a real-world version of Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Despite there being considerable scientific enthusiasm to invent these gizmos, we’re still a way away from the finish line. The ones that are in the market cost an arm and a leg, like the Zapata Flyboard Air, which is a turbine-powered hoverboard costing a cool 250,000 dollars, fashioned like a surfboard and able to fly up to 500 feet in the air, much like the mischievous titular character of ‘Subway Surfers’. Nevertheless, the rise in popularity of these technologies means that everything you innocently penned in your childhood “If I had a superpower” essay will soon become a reality.

OUT IN THE OPEN

From dreams to reality, technologies that enhance human abilities are knocking on our door, with a few already available in the market for both personal and professional use. Exoskeletons are external frames that strengthen or shield the outside of the body. Crabs, grasshoppers, and shellfish have exoskeletons, and now, humans can too. These suit-like exoskeletons that fit over our body to help us carry more weight and move faster are currently being utilized by soldiers and heavy-industry workers. Developed by Sarcos Robotics, the Sarcos Guardian XO is a 24-degrees-of-freedom full-body robotic exoskeleton that is fully electrical and battery-powered,

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granting you the ability to lift 200 pounds of weight like it was nothing. Released in 2019, the Guardian XO costs $100,000 a year to rent. Being a kind of self-supporting humanoid-robot, it is fully automated and combines “human intelligence, instinct, and judgment with the power, endurance, and precision of machines”, essentially packing the advantages of both humans and machines. Remind you of a certain Avenger? Seeing that we find repetitive clicking and typing on a computer a total hassle, imagine the hardships of warehouse and factory workers, whose job requires continuous grasping and un-grasping

The Sarcos Guardian XO is a 24-degreesof-freedom full-body robotic exoskeleton that is fully electrical and batterypowered, granting you the ability to lift 200 pounds of weight like it was nothing motion. The RoboGlove, a wearable human grasp assist device, reduces the grasping power required to operate tools for long periods. Developed in collision between NASA and GM Motors, the technology was a spinoff of the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2 (R2), and is a self-contained unit with actuators in the glove that provide grasping support to one’s fingers. To a layman, it may not sound as cool as the Sarcos Guardian XO, but the glove comes as a great relief to construction workers, hazardous material workers, or assembly line operators, while also harboring the potential to be of help to people with impaired or limited arm and muscle strength.

undergone years of hard work and practice, facing off against an opponent whose game is better simply because he has a fancy chip implanted in their brain? Simply put, an accomplishment loses value when a technological shortcut is used to achieve it. There is also a lingering fear that an overdeveloped use of augmentation might lead to our human abilities getting stunted until, unfortunately, augmentation becomes a necessity. We also grapple with the question of its governance. With the rise in the numbers of available augmentation technology also comes the increase in the num• Global Human ber of policymakers in charge Augmentation of making decisions for their Market is valued use and implications. Moreover, approximately at USD since these technologies are not 87.84 billion in 2020 limited to any region, they will (Source: MarketStudyReport.com) require global policies. And while there has been a hike in research • The market is anticleadership, we have a long way to go till we achieve a clear picture ipated to grow with a of the implications of these enhealthy growth rate of hancement technologies and, by more than 23.9% over extension, develop a reasonable the forecast period management strategy.

S TAT S Vision Augmentation is one, if not the most popular kind of human augmentation. The Google Glass, equipped with mind-boggling features including Artificial Intelligence, is aimed towards manufacturing workers. Endowed with verbal coherence like a personal Alexa, it understands questions asked by workers and offers verbal responses in return. It acts as a logical and convenient option for the factory floor, where traditional technologies like smartphones and laptops would be distracting. This factory-friendly version, developed by the Israeli software company Plataine, is already used by industrial heavyweights like GE, Boeing, and Airbus. Workers will be able to scan barcodes, receive reports on production materials, and supervise what is happening on the production floor, all with the help of this wearable tech. Furthermore, it simplifies training, quality control inspections, and maintenance. As we enter a trans-human era, where technology and biology play and meld across the man-machine barrier, instances of augmentation become both quantitatively immense and innovatively exciting. However, ethical conundrums loom.

IN A QUANDARY

Although technology-based human enhancement is new territory, exercise, education, diet, and curated supplements can all be considered ways that humans have used to augment themselves. So, how do we distinguish these “accepted” methods of enhancement from those that cause concern, like using drugs to improve performance or genetically modifying a foetus? Apart from the implication that humans should not “play God”, the ethical and moral dilemmas of human augmentation do rear their heads. One argument is that the route we take to achieve our goals matters. For example, would you feel the same sense of satisfaction climbing Mt. Everest as opposed to getting dropped at its peak by a helicopter? Or being in a game of chess, with you having

2021-2027.

(Source: MarketStudyReport.com)

• 63% of respondents in a survey conducted would consider augmenting their bodies with technology to improve them – either permanently or temporarily (Source: Kaspersky Lab)

• Almost seven in ten (69%) of people worldwide think it likely that only rich people will be able to enjoy access to human augmentation technology (Source: Kaspersky Lab)

• 39% of people believe that human augmentation will be dangerous for society (Source: Kaspersky Lab)

THE MODERN-AGE ODYSSEY

We are past the point where a transhuman future where humans surpass their biological limitations is mere science fiction. Notwithstanding ethical and moral concerns, a recent study reported that over 92% of respondents opined that they would be willing to enhance themselves technologically if given a chance. Out of these, most rated their support for human augmentation due to its potential to improve their quality of life (53%) and reduce suffering (39%) (Source: Kaspersky Lab). We, as a race, are at the genesis of the human augmentation odyssey, and as the technology heightens, it will raise important questions, including what it really means to be human. There is little doubt of the advantages of human augmentation and its power to transfigure our lives in new and unseen ways. However, the question remains: are we, as a society, ready for that future? J 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Opinion

The ice of immortality Most humans would like to live forever. And Cryogenics may be the answer to immortality

e it Jesus or Persephone, there is something about resurrection that appeals to us. Whether it is the finality of death or the profound feeling of loss that haunts us, we are obsessed with the call of immortality. And thus, whether it is eating superfoods or playing with alchemy, if something could prolong our lifespan, we are game to try it. Did you know that there are people, or bodies present in the world today, that are legally dead but hope to walk the Earth again one day in the future? This hope is kindled thanks to cryonics. Cryonics is the low temperature freezing of human remains soon after death, in the hopes that technology and medicine will have evolved to such an extent that resurrection will be possible in the future. Since its inception in 1967, over 500 people have opted for this technique, with the majority in the United States, and a smattering of people in China and Russia. A dive into the world of cryogenics might not lead you into the realms of pathbreaking science, but rather the stubbornness and childlike audacity of human hope. It is no surprise that people from the creative field or well-known risk takers such as PayPal founders Luke Nosek and Peter Thiel, as well as multifaceted Hollywood artist Seth MacFarlane have opted to be cryopreserved after death. This, despite the fact that most organizations that cryogenically preserved corpses to revive them in the future died an early death themselves (the irony makes one chuckle), and their client’s bodies had to be disposed of.

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Humans are perhaps the only species who have the good fortune (or misfortune) of being aware of our ourselves as sentient beings, our lives and thus, its inevitable end. Given that for us the world begins once we open our eyes, we have trouble comprehending our inevitable non-existence. We have been promised a lot about the future - like flying cars, world peace, a better, more evolved society, humongous technological

Opinion

is our ever-persistent need to interfere with laws of nature and the circle of life. When every plant, animal, even a microorganism can gracefully accept when life has come to an end, does our intelligence leave us in denial of this basic truth? There is also the question of the future we so fervently long for. The truth is, we have very little idea about what the world will look like after one hundred years. Could an individual from the 1800s have been able to survive coming back to life in 2022? How bewildered would they be by our cellphones, social media, superfast computers, digital money, cryptocurrency, limitless information? And beyond that, would they withstand the culture shock, our inexplicable linguistics, our hyper connected yet fragmented society? You know it would be nearly impossible. How do we expect to do better in an unseen future, when our present confounds us so?

People from the creative field or well-known risk takers such as PayPal founders Luke Nosek and Peter Thiel, as well as multifaceted Hollywood artist Seth MacFarlane have opted to be cryopreserved after death advancements like the world have never seen before. Humans are plagued by FOMO (Fear of missing out). If we can’t sit with the idea of missing a friend’s birthday party, wouldn’t the thought of missing the 22nd century rub us the wrong way?

Dead on arrival?

According to an article in ‘The New York Times’, during the pandemic, a heightened awareness of mortality seemingly led to more interest in signing up for cryopreservation procedures that can cost upwards of $200,000. What is concerning

Ultimately, cryonics falls in the category of things that seem like an affront to logic or beliefs, but could have us changing our tune due to innate human curiosity. For instance, if the prospect of life after death cost not 200,000 dollars but just 50 bucks, a lot more people would be willing to try it. It doesn’t matter if it works, you’re literally starting from dead here. We could argue about the logical, scientific and ethical loopholes in cryonics from now till judgment day, but the truth is, if we don’t decide when another human dies, we perhaps don’t have a say in when a person chooses to be reborn. J 2 0 2 1 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Events

Regional happenings on the horizon World Conference on Science, Engineering, and Technology (WCSET) World Conference on Science, Engineering, and Technology (WCSET) is a series of worldwide conferences where dignitaries and experts convene to discuss a multitude of topics surrounding Science, Management, Technology and much more. With the aim of creating and sharing innovative ideas for the betterment of the scientific world, the conference is set to take place in Al Ain on the 2nd of April 2022. As the horizons and scope for engineering and technology broaden, the conference will act as a common platform for sharing the latest information, knowledge and discourse in the field. The registration fees for the event starts at $150 for Listeners to $380 for Authors and Industrial representatives and registrations are now open on the official website.

International Conference on Sustainable Water Management

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The 2022 edition of the International Conference on Sustainable Water Management, sponsored by ConferenceFora, will be held at Fanar Hotel and Residences, Salalah, Oman on the 1st and 2nd of April 2022. It aspires to be one of the major international conferences in the domains of water management and environmental science, providing unique and fundamental advancements. The event also promotes communication among scholars

and practitioners from various scientific fields who share an interest in improving Water Management and Environmental Science. The conference provides a forum for professionals involved in water resources management to share information and gain an understanding of the state of the art in current technology, techniques, and solutions for sustainable water management as they have been developed and implemented in various countries.

International Conference on Vehicular, Mobile and Wearable Technology The 1182nd edition of the International Conference on Vehicular, Mobile and Wearable Technology (ICVMWT). The conference’s goal is to bring together scientists, academics, engineers, and students from universities around the world and from industry to present ongoing research projects and, as a result, to stimulate research collaboration between universities and industry. This conference allows delegates to meet face to face to exchange fresh ideas and application experiences, build business or research relationships, and locate international partners for future collaboration. ICVMWT will be held at Flora Grand Hotel, Dubai on the

14th and 15th of April, 2022. Hosted by the International Society for Engineering Research and Development (ISERD), the conference will also grant The Best Paper award to the papers that are deemed to have made the greatest contribution to the conference.

International Conference on Business Management and Social Innovation

International Conference on Advances in Business Management and Information Technology

The International Conference on Business Management and Social Innovation (ICBMSI) will be held at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Sharjah on 1 April 2022. The main goal of ICBMSI is to give worldwide participants the opportunity to share their ideas and experiences in person with their peers who are expected to attend from all over the world. Furthermore, this meeting will assist delegates in establishing research or business relationships, as well as establishing international linkages for future collaborations in their careers. The results of the ICBMSI are expected to result in major contributions to the knowledge base in these cutting-edge scientific domains.

Global Business Summit The 4th Global Business Summit is set to take place in Flora Grand Hotel, Dubai during the 20th and 21st of April, 2022. The purpose of the Global Business Summit (GBS) is to bring together visionaries, thought leaders, policymakers, academicians, and CEOs to drive a single agenda for writing economic change by integrating the global economic building blocks. With the goal of bringing attention to the political and economic challenges that are looming large over the global economy, the GBS intends to give solutions to significant macroeconomic concerns as well as a blueprint for long-term, inclusive economic growth and a forum for government-to-government exchanges. 

The 1317th International Conference on Advances in Business Management and Information Technology (ICABMIT) will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during 26th and 27th April, 2022. The conference, sponsored by the International Institute of Engineers and Researchers (IIER), aims to be one of the major international conferences in the domains of business management and information technology, delivering unique and fundamental developments.

The conference also promotes communication among researchers and experts from a wide range of scientific fields who share an interest in enhancing Business Management and Information Technology practices. Held every year since 2014, the conference will serve as an international venue for presenting technological breakthroughs and research findings in the disciplines of business management and information technology.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

COVER STORY

W A ASPIRATIONAL WOM Aspirational Women of Excellence are women who have with their dreams. For those who believe that women can or with the support of a dear one, these wom

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WMEN OF EXCELLENCE E the fire and the spirit to silence the naysayers and go grow, and women can thrive. Whether on their own steam en are unstoppable. Meet our women of AWE! 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

PADDY KENNEDY

The Canadian communications expert of Kennedy Communication Studios talks about her incredible journey from a fated future as an Olympic figure skater to an empathetic communication coach whose speech is her superpower There is nothing ordinary about Paddy Kennedy’s life. A tumultuous childhood under the hand of an alcoholic father, she sought refuge from the pain by immersing herself in the art of figure skating. And yet, she is renowned as a communications expert with nearly four decades of experience training professionals worldwide, instead of a ‘figure skating Olympic champion’. So how did life take such a turn for Paddy? Her's is an unfathomable life story with her newest passion project, ‘Free your voice’, for women to be brave and be heard in professional (and personal) settings.

A CRUMBLED DRE AM

As a bright young girl, Paddy’s life was oriented toward competitive ice-skating rinks as a budding Olympic figure skater. “I trained rigorously from the age of 10 until I was 18. But then, I missed the team trials for the Olympic Games by one-tenth of a point.” It was a crushing setback for Paddy and her family, especially her mother, who had single-handedly raised Paddy and her siblings, arming them with skills that would allow them to escape their harsh circumstances. However, Paddy was simultaneously relieved at the defeat. A nervous system disorder, which caused her tremendous pain and was the reason why she took up the sport in the first place, was tearing her body apart. Her figure skating dream crumbled; she switched gears, first to be a figure skating coach, training top league Canadian players that had a shot at the Olympics. But a nun in her Catholic School shed light on Paddy’s lesser-explored gift of word. She told her, “You’re an excellent writer and an outstanding orator. And if the

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skating thing doesn’t work out, you can always fall back on the gift for communication.”

THE BEGINNING

Heartbroken at leaving a lifelong dream but determined to move ahead, Paddy forged on working with Ph.D. and master’s degree students at Vancouver’s local university,

COVER STORY

helping them edit and stylize their thesis. That unassuming beginning was the embarkment of Kennedy Communication Studios. Around the same time, afflicted with chronic pain and no cure in sight, Paddy began traveling the world in search of relief, trying out Vedic and Chinese medicine, struggling to find an alternative. Through her travels, she ended up with a highly compelling story that people wanted to listen to. One thing led to another, and from speaking at the Arthritis Foundation giving people hope, she had moved on to speak at huge conventions in New York City. With these humble beginnings, Kennedy Communication Studio (KCS) steadily grew, amassing students in over 110 countries within the next few years. Over the years, KCS has gone on to help people, industry leaders, businessmen, corporates, and professionals with the nuances of communication. Paddy has also authored two books, ‘Deep-Dive Strategic Internal Communications’ and ‘Strategic Communication in Times of Crisis’.

FREE YOUR VOICE, WOMEN OF THE WORLD

As she now unfurls a new beginning in the UAE, as the co-founder and COO of ‘Ashraf and Kennedy Consulting, Dubai’, a long-awaited dream project is finally coming to fruition alongside. ‘Your Brave Voice’, a communications program that Paddy thinks is critical to awaken something in the modern world – the suppressed voice of women. The idea germinated when Paddy interviewed the Dalai Lama as a young, naïve radio journalist back in 1993. As their conversation meandered between environment conservation and threats of a nuclear war, His Holiness confessed his biggest fears for the world's future. “Men in power and their love for war toys will take us to the brink of destruction. But, the women of the world will bring us back,” he said. He held the unshakeable belief that we had heard from men far too long; we now

needed to hear from women. Holding this lesson in her heart, today, nearly 30 years later, Paddy is putting this vision into action with ‘Your Brave Voice’. “Working with people in leadership positions, I always hear women saying that they’re not enough. Ten years back, working on a leadership program for women in Europe, I surveyed to understand why women weren’t stepping up into more leadership roles. All the responses I received were to the tune of - I'm not smart enough, I don't know enough, I don't have enough. Not enough. Not enough.” So motivated was she to change this limiting mindset that the program ended up being named ‘You are enough’, the bedrock for ‘Your Brave Voice’. Paddy offers a brief sneak-peek into the program. “I lead the women through a series of evocative exercises to help them uncover their voice. Then, I make them write it down as part of the writing exercises, and then they have to stand up and declare it. Because you can write it down, but once you close that journal, it’s gone. But standing up and declaring it in your own voice, that’s what makes the difference.” Many more exercises included in the program serve as a reminder and a confidence boost for women who are used to downplaying their strengths or thinking of them as inconsequential. Paddy, who has worked in radio for a long time thanks to her wondrously baritone voice, also teaches women some powerful vocal exercises. This helps move away from a pitchy tone to a deeper, more assured voice that better addresses large groups, gets your point across, and does not allow anyone to speak over you. The workshop also endeavors to address all the reasons why women falter in leadership roles – be it fear, socialization, shyness, or lack of confidence and tackle some deep-seated untruths and beliefs that hold them back.

Men in power and their love for war toys will take us to the brink of destruction. But, the women of the world will bring us back

I AM EVERY THING

Paddy religiously follows the lessons that she has espoused in her program. “I keep journals and write one page of ‘I am’ affirmations every day. Don’t feel bad for thinking you’re not enough because every woman has been raised to think so. Loving yourself is not easy.” While not glamorous in a traditional sense, the work she does is a fitting legacy to her. Having helped thousands of people worldwide uncover their voice, speak their mind, and conquer their fears is no easy feat. At 69, Paddy has a passion for work and life that would make someone from the younger generation take frantic notes. It is no surprise then that she speaks without fear of her life’s eventual end when she would meet her maker and say, “Thank you, Lord. Every gift you gave me, I gave away, and I’m coming home empty with nothing left.” 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

RACHA HAFFAR

For Racha Haffar, financial awareness came at a young age in her life, and that has made all the difference. The financial trainer and Ph.D. graduate shares why mastering financial matters is the key to a successful life For many people, finance is a complex subject that they try to avoid digging into its details. It is worse still when these perceptions embed themselves in women's minds, as they are, at least, primarily managing their household budgets. The ramifications are compelling. However, Racha Haffar’s life, profession, and endeavor is to subvert the expected, not only attaining mastery over money but lifting other women as she wields her knowledge to empower.

ODD ONE OUT

Born and raised in Syria, Racha’s family moved to Montreal in 1988. Recognizing her knack for finance, her father groomed her in the domain. After graduating as a Bachelor of Science in Economics, she married and moved to Atlanta to start a family. A mother of two boys, she credits her supportive husband who encouraged her to pursue MBA at Georgia State University. The family then moved to Dubai. Racha reminisces what it was like growing up in a traditional society within Syria, where girls weren't cheered to show leadership traits or overtly intellectual indulgence. At one point, she candidly admits to being willing to give up her oversized ambition in exchange for her desire to belong. Instead, she advises, “You should not be afraid to dream big if you are doing the right thing. In this era of age, awareness, and knowledge, you owe it to yourself to go back and revisit some concepts. Make sure you don't stand in the way of your success. If you have preconceived ideas, go forward and strive to overcome them.” She recalls the constant dream of becoming a leader, but as a child, she hid that as she didn’t want to appear different in the way of her thinking. Reading was the antidote to her insecurities. As she dove into the habit encouraged by her mother, it gave her wings, altering perceptions that she held before.

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The more she read, the more she learned.

COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE OF WOMEN

Racha’s gifted education has enabled her to forge a career path in the world of finance. Between 1995 and 1997, she worked as a consultant in the Syrian Consulting Bureau, focusing on feasibility studies, market assessment, and economic analysis, skills that have come in handy at her current post at United Nations Development Programs (UNDP). Additionally, she also had a impressive stint as a professor at King Saud University, teaching students finance at every level. Racha has always being committed to the cause of

COVER STORY

women and being supportive of what her female friends wanted to pursue as a career. “Women empower women when you make them comfortable in their own capabilities, allocating ways to improve and giving them the desired support. In this way, women empowerment became the central cause of my Ph.D. research dissertation, in my work with the United Nations and my personal participation with groups such as WICCI, G100, and other organizations.” For Racha it wasn’t about gender bias, but more about addressing it, as men got their fair share, but for women, there was much room for improvement. Since she is passionate about the cause, it came naturally. “Observing women in SMEs (small and medium enterprises), I realized that while women in corporations have access to financial training, women in SMEs lack it due to constraints such as time, budget, and academic process. Not having financial training can be limiting, so I started training them. I posted on social media platforms that I am volunteering to do so as part of my research.” To her, accounting is mere numbers, which is fact-based. However, finance is the playground where these numbers interact on the sheet, creating strategies that make you stand tall. The latter gives you a choice to control your future financial positions. Today, Racha has designed one-on-one training programs that will help women in business, whether using Excel sheets, mastering online banking, cybersecurity, keeping their accounts safe, negotiating financial support from the bank, and so on. The best part is that these programs are simply designed to teach women in SMEs whatever part of financial knowledge that best supports their businesses, completely customized for them. “They need to know what is essential for them. You don’t need to know all of digital finance at once to run a business. So, I design a basic program to start with, and once they advance, we add some more.” Now, standing at the cusp of completing her Ph.D., she is thrilled that life has come full circle, as her dissertation revolves around women empowerment specifically through digital financial knowledge, with an emphasis on leadership skills. Given her efforts, she got the opportunity to work with the UNDP to demonstrate these skills.

SELFLESS GOOD DEEDS

Woman empowerment, volunteer work, and education are the three facets to her passion, which come to her intui-

tively. “Initially, I started as a volunteer with the UN because it was part of my research, and I love working there. The experience, the diversity, the topic, the humanitarian agenda, and mostly creating positive social change that impacts humans across the world is deeply compelling and satisfying.” Racha is working on her own business on the personal front, which she plans to unveil shortly. “I am considering coaching executives to reach the next level in their careers, as well as their finance-related pursuits. I believe in specialization and niche. If you want to create a successful business these days, you must focus on a niche. While it is not specific to merely the finance industry, I will focus on digital financial knowledge.”

I believe in specialization and niche. If you want to create a successful business these days, you must focus on a niche

OF UNSTOPPABLE AMBITION

One thing that Racha yearns for is to go back in time and reflect on what she wanted as a child. “When I think of what could have been done differently, I realize I wanted to have more support. My dream is to go back to the school system and implement the basics of financial education relative to people of all ages and industries. Since it is a tool that they will consistently need in their life, they need to have proper education around it.” For someone with admittedly ‘unstoppable ambition’, Racha says that she always aimed high. “What will hold you in good stead is being Avant-Garde and being prepared ahead of time. My parents told me that time is the most important luxury you have, as it equips you to do what you want to.” With her work reaching profound levels, Racha’s life has traversed the route of Syrian culture, the broadened perspectives of Canada and USA, and now well-settled in the uniquely enriching atmosphere in Dubai, she has managed to attain a life that is the confluence of many worlds. 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

ANGELA SOUDI

For Angela Soudi, business, family, and passion met at a glorious intersection with Be Unique Group. The natural risktaker speaks of how she forayed from the employee mindset to the entrepreneurial bandwagon and why women need to take financial independence seriously Boasting an impressive career spanning 20 years of Sales and Marketing experience in Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, Angela Soudi is the co-founder of Be Unique Group alongside her husband Dariush Soudi and stepson Ali. She also helms the mantle of Director of Hospitality at Be Unique Hospitality. A mother of two young boys, Angela is committed to philanthropy as well as empowering women to reach their full, untapped potential.

A QUEST FOR GROWTH

Born in a small country town in Lancashire, Northwest England, Angela always knew that although a beautiful place to be in, the natural, rustic, unspoiled country living was not her life’s calling. Instead, living and working in a more vibrant, electric environment seemed to resonate more with her dreams of an extraordinary existence. “The idyllic peaceful life wasn’t for me. I wanted to be in a city where things were moving and fast-paced.” Eventually, after training as a therapist, she went on to join Virgin Atlantic as an In-Flight Therapist. During her stint with the airlines, Angela got to see the world outside the UK for the first time. Spanning the globe from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, from South Africa to San Francisco only encouraged her thirst to bid adieu to her homeland and break fresh ground elsewhere. After a three-year stint travelling the globe, Angela reached Toronto with hopes of making it big in Canada. It was here that a chance encounter with a training program led by Zig Ziglar changed the trajectory of her life. Reaching the location of the four-day seminar led by the renowned sales guru, Angela knew that she was meant to be there. “With around 600 people gathered together,

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the energy was electric and amazing. They were going through different phases of the sales processes, learning how to negotiate, overcome objections, and close the deal.”

TRE ADING A PATH OF UNCERTAINT Y

Next, she applied with a recruiting firm and was turned down for lack of sales experience in the medical domain, with the suggestion of going back to working as a therapist. “Thank God I rejected this and went ahead looking

COVER STORY

for an opportunity within the domain of my choice. It was another woman who believed in my self-conviction and gave me a chance as the North Sales Manager,” says Angela, where she proved her mettle and was soon promoted as the National Sales Manager for Sunrise Medical Company. It was around this time that she met her future husband Dariush. “He asked me, ‘What is it that you want to do in the long term? Do you always want to be an employee?’” she vividly recalls. As someone who had always wanted to start her own business, she soon quit her job and stepped into a new vocation, that as an entrepreneur, treading a path of fear and uncertainty. “As an employee, it was straightforward and easy to have a positive mindset about myself. I was successful, I was achieving, and I was at the top of my game. However, self-doubt took over as soon as the entrepreneurial hat came on. ‘Am I good enough? Do I have enough knowledge? Can I do this? Maybe I’m not worthy.’” However, she edged on, not letting these thoughts overpower her psyche and staying focused on the results. “This is key for any person who wants to make it as an entrepreneur. Focus and Determination,” she says strongly. Having embarked on this journey, kickstarting their first business in the UK was not a smooth ride. In 2009, which Angela describes as “the worst year of her life,” she lost her father, and her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Around the same time, the couple also got separated for a while as Dariush had to leave for Dubai to restart his business journey and Angela stayed behind to care for her ailing mother and their 18-month-old-child. Thankfully this did not last long and their luck soon turned around for the better. Her mother recovered from cancer, and Angela soon reached Dubai reuniting with her husband. Landing in a foreign country, she had no network, friends, or connections to reach out to. “At that point, my sole purpose was to understand the market,” reminiscing on her journey in the UAE. “It was to understand UAE as a country, how things work here, and how business is conducted here.” She started investing most of her time building a quality network, attending seminars and learning. Fortunately, she leveraged her background as a Sales and Marketing consultant to her complete advantage, helping companies and organizations rise back up from economic downfalls, thereby building a strong clientele for herself in a foreign land. What had

Angel Soudi with her family

started as a consultancy firm has now expanded into a thriving conglomerate with two headquarters.

A MOM ON A MISSION

We live in a society where women are expected to put their careers on the back burner after becoming mothers. However, Angela, one of the most inspiring women entrepreneurs out there, handles both her roles with ease and grace, according equal priority to both her work and her motherhood. It is a dream she sees for other women as well. Her mission is to empower women around the world to be able to stand steady on their ground and redefine the way they see money. “Growing up in a working-class family, you are taught to earn and save, rinse and repeat. No one ever teaches you about smartly investing the money you have and generating a passive income early on that will take care of all your needs,” says Angela. “I had to re-train my mindset in the way that I saw wealth and the way to handle my finances.” “Women can lose their self-worth when they’re reliant on somebody else for every need, big or small. If they choose to be dependent on their husbands, they can be, but if they don’t, then they need to know how to manage their money. I think women owe it to themselves to reach a comfortable stage where they don’t have to work for money, and instead have their money work for them.” Backed by her incredible multi-faceted career, this motivational businesswoman is ready to take whatever comes her way by the scruff of the neck. Working now is more of a decision and not really a need as her earnings is ‘smartly invested’ giving her a decent passive income. She chooses to don her entrepreneurial hat each day because that is what keeps her fire burning! 

Women can lose their self-worth when they’re reliant on somebody else for every need, big or small

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INTERVIEW

Dressing Up your home

After putting Square Yards on the map of residential real estate, Kanika Gupta Shori is ready with Interior Company, that makes alluring home décor affordable to all. Pallavi Biju catches up with the astute businesswomen, who is always a few square yards ahead of the competition

anika Gupta Shori embodies the cool-headed entrepreneur that can have both a brilliant idea and see it through the trials of execution. After the success of Square Yards under the able powerhouse partnership between Tanuj and Kanika, she has thrown her might and intellect behind Square Yards latest offering, Interior Company, an interior décor solutions firm that, for the first time, takes exquisite home design and furnishings to the sensible and thrifty middle class.

You have recently launched your Interior Décor and Home Furnishing vertical as a subsidiary of Square Yards. Could you tell us more? Square Yards launched Interior Company in 2021 to Since its launch, Interior Company has designed and provide high-quality home furnishing and interior serdelivered over 200 projects. The company has offices in vices at affordable costs for budget homeowners. Interior Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida, and Dubai Company wants to foray into the untapped middle-class and plans to expand its footprint in the coming years. segment, providing an end-to-end experience where homeowners can discover thousands of high-quality, What was the inspiration behind this? How does it customizable designs and products and dress up their integrate with the parent company, Square Yards? homes at affordable prices. Having a deep passion for home furnishing and interior Our platform provides high-quality 3D visualdécor, I wanted to channelize ization of spaces with an immersive VR experience, Our platform provides my inner creativity and help allowing customers to experience the final product high-quality 3D people bring the confines of with a “What you see is What you get” assurance. visualization of spaces their homes or office to life. It also includes end-to-end designer workbench, This desire has lived in my with an immersive VR auto ‘bill of material’ generation, order and loheart ever since I donned gistics management with vendors, thereby giving experience allowing the entrepreneurial hat and real-time status updates of their project to the cus- customers to experience founded Square Yards in 2014. tomer with seamless, timely delivery. the final product Even though Square Yards

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grew to be India’s first integrated real estate platform in just seven years, expanding globally with a direct presence in 20 cities and nine countries, I still felt a void within myself. So, I turned my passion into purpose and conceptualized Interior Company. The timing was spot-on, as Square Yards received a strong demand signal for interior services from its existing clientele. So, we added this missing puzzle to our integrated real estate ecosystem.

This vertical is your brainchild and you have been growing it from the get-go. How easy or challenging has the whole process been? I got to relive the thrill and fun of creating a business from scratch with Interior Company. This time, I was much more confident, had clarity of thought, and more colors on my palette as compared to when starting Square Yards back in 2014, which was from my home office while nursing a newborn and exploring the world as a new entrepreneur. This time, the most crucial task at my hand was to put together an ‘A star’ team and it turned out to be entirely female-dominated. I am lucky to have found strong women leaders who could understand, build and scale a creative service-oriented business.

and after-sales service that keep us in good stead to capture significant market share in the coming years.

In your earlier interview with ASPIRE, you mentioned that the real estate industry is male-dominated. How do you feel about being a pioneer in beating gender norms in the industry? I believe that entrepreneurship has no gender. A woman who believes in her abilities can achieve anything under the sun. While starting Square Yards, I was initially nervous as I was going back into the cut-throat yet gratifying world of professionalism after a maternity break, creating a fine balance between work and family. The trick was to put my head down and swim with the currents. I succeeded by being firmer, more professional, and disciplined than my male counterparts. I have never faced any major problems in my entrepreneurial career just because I am a woman.

You have already expanded to major metropolitan cities in India. Could you walk us through the logistics of establishing such an extensive operation in India and UAE? We have an in-house team of interior designers who provide design consultations to clients and execute orders through impaneled local vendors that we have tie-ups with. In addition, we have partnered with factories in Manesar, Bangalore, and Mumbai to manufacture according to client specifications, helping us speedily transport the finished products.

How does Interior Company stand apart from other interior design companies currently in the market? The interior design market caters mainly to the mid-segment and luxury homeowners, thus leaving few options for affordable homeowners. The idea of Interior Company is to make high-quality interior design affordable and cater to the strong appetite of budget homeowners without compromising on quality. With our USP - Affordable, Stylish, Efficient - we ensure a smooth, hassle-free designing experience for the affordable segment that is 30% of the homes sold in the country.

Interior Design is a multi-billion-dollar industry. How much of a market share do you believe you can attain in the next three years? We want to consolidate our leadership in the affordable segment and capture the demand for home interior and modular solutions from tier I and tier II markets. We are investing significantly in technology to create the most sophisticated platform in the interior design industry. We hope that our wholesome initiatives help us provide the best customer experience across price, timeline, quality,

With our USP - Affordable, Stylish, Efficient - we ensure a smooth, hassle-free designing experience for the affordable segment Men can be great communicators, but women possess the qualities of active listening, thorough communication and compassionate understanding, making them effective leaders. Today, seven years down the line, I am proud to have played such a decisive role in Square Yards success.

What is your future vision and plan for the vertical? We want to be an industry leader in the interior design space, becoming the first choice for consumers when designing their new homes. We are slowly and steadily building towards that mark by attracting the top industry talent, expanding vendor and designer community, and adopting technology and aesthetics. We are focusing on geo-expansion to the remaining Tier-I cities like Chennai and Hyderabad and foraying into Tier-II cities. Interior Company is also building offline experience centers starting from Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, and Bangalore to let customers closely understand the quality and aesthetics before finalizing the design. There are plans to open these design experience studios in all Tier-I cities soon.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

INTERVIEW

Art Traction A lawyer with an artistic side, Ranjana Gupta balances the cold edge of legality with the lilting brightness of art. Bindu Gopal Rao catches up with the multifaceted woman, whose artistic style is as charming as she is

‘H

ome is where the Heart is’ aptly describes Ranjana. Her tastefully done up home has art and artifacts in every corner, pointing to her fine sense of aesthetics and an intrinsic eye for beauty. A self-confessed blessed and spiritual person, she admits that her profession demands ‘keeping emotions aside’. While always wanting to become a criminal lawyer, her honesty veered her towards civil and corporate law. “Emotionally every lawyer does get disturbed is what I feel, though we may not show much emotion on the job.” She was working as a litigating lawyer in Delhi when she married and moved to Dubai in 1995. “Though UAE was and still continues to be a land of opportunities, but back then there was no way for an expatriate lawyer to become a litigating attorney in Dubai Courts.” An opportunity knocked at her door and she joined Al Maya Lal’s for their upcoming project ‘Lamcy Plaza’ taking care of leasing, marketing, and legal contracts. After the handover of Lamcy Plaza, she joined Union Properties and was then connected with the Real Estate, Property, and Facility Management Industry till 2009.

Channeling the Divine Unfurling in a period of self-discovery, her home began to beckon and poke her with its bareness. It set her on a path of flirting with design and color, where she would paint the walls, collect bricks, and create colorful corners around the house. When the family moved into a villa, it got to now playing with mediums like sand and stone. In the course of her

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explorations doing up her home, Ranjana started looking for a painting with Sanskrit Shloka (verse) inscriptions. Not finding anything that matched her desire, she decided to paint it herself. “I bought a large canvas and looked at it for a long time till an idea flashed. It took me a few days, but when it was ready, I couldn’t believe it turned out to be exactly the way I had imagined it to be. I still don’t believe that I can paint and don’t ever call myself an artist. I’m more of a creative person guided by this spiritual power which helps me achieve what goes on in

my imagination,” she says, truly believing in being blessed beyond measure. Her first painting is the one that still remains closest to her heart. Before starting on a new painting, Ranjana says she quite naturally slips into a different world where she does not communicate with anybody. “It is a beautiful space where I feel connected to my own spirit and my consciousness.” Despite not being qualified as an artist, Ranjana has stayed away from formal training as it allows her to not follow the rules and let her free spirit take over the canvas instead. Her husband Ajay agrees, adding, “Once Ranjana is passionate about something, she puts her heart and soul into it, adding creativity, colors, passion, dedication and devotion in every piece of work.”

Few of Ranjana’s creation

A Colorful Future A recent endeavor of Ranjana is her website (www.ministryofcolors.online) through which she is promoting, marketing, and selling an array of items that she creates. The website currently has her paintings, recrafted furniture, and antique traditional fare. jewelry. In the coming days and A qualified lawyer, social enmonths, a few art pieces and trepreneur, co-founder of a conartists will be marketed and sulting firm, interior designer, promoted through her platform. music aficionado, painter, artAfter a decade of painting, she ist, and above all a wife and a feels it is her positive energy that mother, Ranjana embraces life transforms into her work. In her Before starting on in myriad forms with incrediopinion the best way to know a a new painting, ble zest, energy, and purpose. person is to visit their home be- Ranjana says she Her effervescent and infectious cause a person’s abode really is a disposition seeps through all quite naturally slips reflection of one’s soul. her pursuits and creations. She Her love for jewelry is rustic, into a different world loves adventure sports and is evident from her collection of sil- where she does not steadfast about helping people in whichever way she can. “Tover trinkets with Rudra beads. “I day, not many people have the am very attached to the Rudrak- communicate with time to listen. It is important sha, which is also known as anybody that we hear people and reas‘Shiva’s Teardrops’. Wearing one is something I deeply love as it makes me feel the sure them, which encourages them to do what they are passionate about.” presence and of God within, always guiding me.” A dear friend of Ranjana contributed this small Through her other company ‘Ground Reality Consulting’ based in Delhi, Ranjana continues to note about her: “Reclusive yet sociable, vivacious offer legal consulting handling corporate, family, yet grounded, bohemian yet traditional, spiritual and civil related cases. She also helps her husband yet worldly, Ranjana’s paintings, art and artifacts with his international procurement & logistics capture the gamut of human emotions, expresbusiness, looking over the local procurement and sions, and perhaps contradictions. She moves with legal aspects of all the contracts. Apart from her consummate ease between subjects and varied current ventures, Ranjana who is fond of cook- forms – abstract or landscapes – to create strong ing hopes to soon launch a food-related business, motifs that resonance perfectly with a consistent where she envisions giving a contemporary twist to theme – Belief!”  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

INTERVIEW

BOSS — BYTES

Pallavi Biju rounds up three rising women leaders of their domain who have managed to build a name for themselves from ground up

Priya M Nair The Partner and CEO of Doukani LLC, an e-commerce platform and solution provider based in the UAE, Priya M Nair has worked for the UAE Air Force and Air Defense and at an American Engineering Consultancy before joining Doukani as the CEO. With an overall 17 years of experience, Priya holds a Bachelor’s in Economics, Masters in Mass Communication, and an MBA in Strategic Leadership and Management from the UK. A highly experienced and skilled individual, Priya is also the author of Amazon’s best-selling book - “Formula-G”. The handbook, which profiles the approaches, principles, processes, and philosophies to get aspiring entrepreneurs

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started on their odyssey, topped the charts as #1 best seller in its category on Amazon.ae, soon after its release. With practical examples from the industry and toolkits to implement the principles, this book motivated Priya and her co-authors to develop it into a lecture oriented short course that will soon be taught in India as well as UAE Universities. Along with her successful venture as an author, Priya became the CEO of Doukani LLC in order to grow the company, be the face of Doukani and bring more visibility and trust to the brand in late 2021. “This was a huge step-up for me, at the same time I saw immense opportunity to lead the brand from the front. I was up for the challenge. It is definitely a great leap of faith by the Board.” says Priya. Under her captaincy, the company is heading strongly toward being one of the top 5 home-grown brands in the UAE by 2025, making efforts to renew its brand identity with a new logo and consolidate business under key verticals. Currently, the organization’s key business is Doukani. com, a growing multi-vendor e-commerce platform offering great deals on products across key categories including electronics, gaming, cosmetics and more, catering to the Gen Z and Millennials in the UAE. Also offering Platform as a Service (PaaS) to medium and big businesses interested to take their business online, Doukani very recently developed a web and mobile-based e-commerce platform for Khairat Lebanon, one of the largest fruits and vegetable vendors in the UAE. A onestop solutions provider for all your business needs, Doukani also plans to diversify as a Management Consultancy advising online businesses on growth strategy, under Priya’s guidance and utilizing her expertise in mentoring, vision engineering and business strategy. Striving hard towards establishing Doukani as a solutions provider as well as a thought leader in the e-commerce space, Doukani is set to inaugurate Doukani e-commerce Trends and Analysis - DeTa - in March of 2022, which will be the first and only weekly e-commerce report in the GCC region. Covering everything e-commerce from technology and innovation to news and policy, the dossier will comprise of easily readable, bite-sized information capsules on Doukani’s social media platforms and corporate websites.

Dr. Anumeha Bhatnagar Rai

Rameshwari Adnani

An adept Doctor of Psychology, Certified Wellness Coach, Associate Leadership and Executive Coach, Emotional Intelligence Coach, and Certified NLP Business Practitioner, Dr. Anumeha Rai boasts over 12 years experience in teaching, mentoring, counseling, and training UG, PG students in universities of India and UAE. With over 16 years of teaching experience, Anumeha is now a visiting faculty at the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Amity University Dubai, while also juggling as a Freelance Trainer and Counselor. An Industrial and Organizational Psychologist, NLP Practitioner and Life Coach as well as Emotional Intelligence Coach, she has co-edited a Psychological review book called ‘Stress Management: A Modern Perspective’. As a keynote speaker at a recent global webinar, she presented a session on ‘Stress and its coping strategies’. She has also presented numerous papers on various topics of extreme importance at National and International seminars. Anumeha is also a member of UV consultant’s ‘Because We Care’ CSR initiative, wherein a group of highly qualified volunteer coaches help those who need it through complimentary coaching. In addition, she has worked as a coach, counselor, and motivator for teenagers, young adults, and individuals of all ages on various behavioral issues related to stress and emotions. An extremely competent individual, Dr. Anumeha puts her best foot forward to help those who need her help and expertise. Her support system consists of her husband Manish and her two kids – Arnav and Mayra. 

With over 7 years of UAE-focused experience, Rameshwari Adnani is a seasoned Insurance professional who is currently working with MetLife, the leading life insurance company in the UAE. A mother of a teenager and a working woman, Rameshwari is adept at balancing all spheres of her life. She is a qualified architect from Mumbai University and boasts of an impressive personal portfolio of investments into a sustainability focused fabric technology business in the Middle East and a technology company based out of India specializing in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and video analytics. “The UAE is an exciting country with very dynamic and fast-evolving demography where the approach of one fit for all doesn’t work,” she says from her vast experience in this country. Her advice to her clients is to take a 360-degree view of their financial goals, aspirations, and risks that they will need to cover and to decide their plan of action based on the same. Her august client portfolio speaks volumes of her credibility and consistency as she gains most of her clients through recommendations from her pre-existing satisfied clientele. What started as a career in architecture has now easily translated to Rameshwari being a Financial advisory professional. Rameshwari’s profile is a rewarding fit for the skills she has honed throughout her propitious career. 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Feature

SPECIAL FEATURE

THE BUSINESS OF F1 Charting out its own cult, the story of Formula One is as riveting as the sport itself. With its 2022 edition all set to take off, Misbaah Mansuri looks at the thriving business in the fast-lane and how it is acing the game of high technology, high finance and extremely high stakes

he noise, the colour, the brands, the money- ‘iconic’ is the word that comes to mind when images of the insanely popular motorsport conjure up. What’s interesting is that even at a time when the pandemic cast its blues on businesses, F1 could garner $530 million of revenue, even after its tally of races went down due to the social-distancing norms. But the high-octane sport kept racing ahead.

UNDERSTANDING THE LEAGUE The Formula One group is owned by Jersey-based Delta Topco, a company owned in turn by CVC Capital Partners, which has a 63.4% stake in it. Furthermore, Mr. Bernie Ecclestone, who helms the brand, has a personal stake of 5.3%. Meanwhile, his family trust owns 8.5%, and management and

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advisors make up the remaining minority stakes. The company employs more than 50,000 people in more than 30 countries and uses cutting-edge technology in the automotive industry. According to research by Deloitte, revenues per game in the NFL are an estimated $24 million, $8 million in the FA Premier League, and $2 million in the MLB. According to the same research, the 18 Grand Prix in 2007 produced average revenues of $7 million, making it much higher than any other sports. The two biggest sources of funds revenues are fees from broadcasting races and hosting. Also, what makes it different from other sports companies is that its performance is not related to the events on the track.

DRIVING THE NUMBERS

RACING AHEAD

“For six and a half days a week, F1 is a business, and on Sunday afternoon, it becomes a sport,” Formula 1 team boss Sir Frank Williams once remarked. And rightly so! Naturally, a big part of the revenue comes from the sport itself. The other piece of the puzzle are the big sponsorships of the game. “Every year, each team receives financial backing from 10-20 sponsors that shell out huge chunks to have their brand names displayed around or to be roped as titled sponsors in the most-watched sporting television series. Trackside advertising at each race is one of the biggest revenue generators here. That alone is known to clock over $259 million,” shared an industry insider on condition of anonymity. This is generated from the likes of Rolex, DHL, among others. Meanwhile, $1.3 billion are known to come from hosting and broadcasting races each. Furthermore, according to SEC filings, F1’s revenue from television rights in the US alone was $4 million, and television contracts add a staggering $587 million to the company’s balance sheets.

The F1 season has become longer and longer in recent years, and the 2022 calendar is only set to be the biggest year, thanks to the 23 races that are scheduled to go ahead. F1 enthusiasts are also speculating the possibility of extending the race in the years to come. Overall, there are 25 circuits that hold contracts with F1. For the unversed, China and Qatar each have an agreement for the future despite not holding a Grand Prix in 2022. There has also been much talk over potential new venues such as Las Vegas. There are some venues on the calendar that hold long-term deals with F1. They are primarily circuits that pay a significant amount to host a Grand Prix. Qatar is one example that has an agreement for ten years from 2023. Qatar pays $55 million per year for its contract, the highest amount on the list of contract costs so far.

THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER From Ferrari to Mercedes, and the most sought-after auto-maker, marketing platform aside, Formula 1 is an important platform in terms of technology development. Another thing to remember is that the most common component is the engine, and hence various automakers provide engines for the teams and others. For instance, in 2021, Mercedes produced engines for Aston Martin, McLaren while Ferrari did it for Haas and Alfa Romeo. Rich firms even without proprietary engines, can become suppliers too. Another source of creating an additional income stream is the external technology transfer. “If you look at its history, various teams developed technology for third parties that we’re not even involved in the F1 championship. From McLaren to Williams, several have donned supplier and external technology transferer hats. That gives them an edge in their booming income,” shared another industry insider who didn’t wish to be named. It’s also wellknown that the innovation produced in this sport has been applied to aerospace, IT, telecommunications, and materials engineering. Apart from riding high on sponsorships, broadcasting, and the game itself, automakers at F1 have showcased various innovations such as aerodynamics, finger-controlled gear shift systems, ultra-light carbon fiber composites in bicycling, advanced telemetry systems, virtual design, and simulators such as Advanced Engineering to flywheel energy storage mechanisms.

For six and a half days a week, F1 is a business, and on Sunday afternoon, it becomes a sport Others to spend on this list are Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, China, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Russia. They all pay a sizable amount of money to participate in the sporting extravaganza. In addition, holding a slightly different agreement in Miami, where a new track is being laid for 2022, which will remain on the schedule for ten years, F1 itself is working with the race organizers on the said venue. That means that the sport will take on some of the costs. In all, the race sanctioning fee, the fee for hosting a formula one race, is the other big-money generator. According to the latest numbers, the hosting fees in 2022 came to a total of around $700 million in a year. Overall, the road ahead only has F1 fans enthused, and all eyes are on its 2022 edition now with optimism in the air. F1, after all, is racing full speed with no end to the road ahead!  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Feature T WIT TER SPACES

Your Voice to the masses

If you had to pick one platform which let you put your real unfiltered self out there, Twitter would be your answer. Now evolving, where could we be if the platform offered more opportunities with the human voice at the center of it? Sreeram Viswanath explores the concept of Twitter Spaces, a recently unveiled feature with empowering capabilities

he human voice is dynamic, influential, and powerful. Twitter agrees with this, as evidenced by its latest foray into the audio-social segment, ‘Spaces’. In Twitter’s own words, Spaces is a place for ‘open, authentic, and unfiltered discussions, a place for any and every topic and conversation, from small and intimate numbers to millions of listeners’. So let’s tune into what this platform offers and gain a glimpse into why businesses should take notice.

since October 2021, any Twitter user with an app on Android or iPhone can start a Space any time, from anywhere. This allows them to reach their fans on a personal level or promote their latest releases such as books, movies, podcasts, or products with more reach. The listener pool is unrestricted to Twitter, for anyone on the internet can join in as a listener to a Space through a shared invitation or link. The platform allows up to 13 speakers to speak at a point in time, and anyone could speak by making a request.

What does it Offer?

Scheduling it: You can schedule this

Spaces takes Twitter’s interaction quotient to the next level, with a plethora of features and possibilities. Let’s first understand what Spaces offers:

audio event by opening up Spaces, tapping ‘schedule for later’, and choosing the preferred date and time. A Space can be scheduled 14 days in advance, with the option of creating an impromptu Space in the meantime. Restrictions apply though, as users can only have one upcoming Space sched-

Live Audio: While initially stipulated that only users with 600 or more followers can start a live conversation,

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uled. The host would receive push and in-app notifications as a reminder to start the Space in time. Those following them can opt to get reminded when a scheduled Space begins.

Feel Free to Tweet: Despite it being a live audio space, Spaces is enhanced by Twitter’s primary offering, tweets. Users can give a descriptive name and share relevant tweets directly within the Space. In addition, anyone who speaks in a Space may tweet about it.

Captions: Captions are automated; participants will be automatically served with the same by default. Listeners can choose not to view captions by tapping the ‘show captions’ option. This is great for when a connection is choppy or for the hearing-impaired.

No Record is Lost: Twitter seems to value voice by adding a touch of per-

those who use them as a tremendous promotional or additional content tool. But why is this medium poised to work so well?

A Space to Promote Spaces can be a part of a robust business promotion strategy. Here’s a platform where you can provide weekly updates or audio-form newsletters (a great disruption to a classic) or keep fans interested (and keep them coming in numbers) for some great dialogues and discussions that they’d hesitate to miss out on. Imagine the scenario for a fledgling publication. An audio discussion of that well-researched article or even debatable, opinionated content a day or two after it is published could pull in readers in droves. The Athletic, a leading sports publication, is a leading example of this strategy. Fans obviously read a piece of content because it intrigues them. Making a discussion about such an interesting subject would only increase your value proposition.

Great Opportunity to Cross-Promote

manence to it. You can record your conversation, which would be immediately and publicly available. The conversation can be deleted any time you wish. (Now imagine if Roman general and timeless orator Marc Anthony could do this!). On a statutory note, Twitter will retain your audio for 30-120 days to check for any violations of the Twitter rules.

Peel the layers of Storytelling Podcasts have emerged as a mainstream content form, consumed with avid interest and flourishing competently. Thanks to this being the age of infotainment, where presenting information and novelty creatively can get you big bucks. By giving precedence to the human voice and thus presenting unfiltered thoughts and fairly uncensored opinions, Twitter Spaces is shaping up to be a Podcasters haven, as well as for

Twitter, like most social media platforms, makes cross-promotion an easy affair. Have you noticed how relevant accounts can be easily identified when an account you follow re-tweets from such accounts? When a company diversifies its message across more social channels, it can reach more potential customers, prospects, and influencers. Similarly, when you add anyone as a speaker, your Space becomes visible to their followers at the top of their home timeline. This means that you have an audience waiting to march in, engage, and follow an audio stream of their interest. A well set-up, consistent, and segregated Space could do wonders to add to your digital persona and your forte.

Ticketed Spaces Spaces isn’t just an exposure platform for you to garner an audience. The arena of Ticketed Spaces now allows you to convert it into an income stream. This is an avenue that encourages willing audiences to pay for your broadcast, for the value you provide in hosting, speaking, and moderating the public conver-

sation. With Ticketed Spaces, creators can host workshops, conversations, or meet-and-greets with their most loyal fans. Most personalities on Twitter have spent years cultivating value with their content creations. Now, they can earn money while also interfacing with their most ardent crowd. Given its impact, the avenue to earn as well as the need for accountability, Ticketed Spaces requires users to have a follower-base of 1000 or more. Users also should have hosted at least three spaces within the last 30 days of a scheduled Ticketed Event. Ticketed Spaces are currently only meant for creators across the United States. Twitter is making all efforts to make this a more global affair.

Spaces is a place for ‘open, authentic, and unfiltered discussions, a place for any and every topic and conversation, from small and intimate numbers to millions of listeners Time to Hit the Strategic Lane In this age of intense media scrutiny, companies must align their social media strategies to the ethos of the 21st-century business. Twitter Spaces is another platform that indicates how businesses are opting for avenues that offer a human, personalized touch combined with a reach of millions. As is the case with every other innovation, Spaces could really go on to be just the edge that businesses thrive upon because it offers a novel way to not only bring in audiences but retain them with zest. If you or your business already enjoys a certain degree of popularity on Twitter or just social media in general, the sky is the limit for how you can utilize this new addition to propel your endeavors forward. While it can be argued that the platform is just in its infancy and remains to be tested, the case for a profound social media strategy can never be brushed under the carpet.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

CEO Seo Souq, Metaverse Expert

Kishore Dharmarajan

PRO TALK

LinkedIn Strategies

Getting smart at LinkedIn The world biggest professional networking site is ripe with connections and opportunity, then why do we still defer learning the LinkedIn lifehacks that will spruce up our business? Read through to understand how LinkedIn could be the most effective marketing weapon in your arsenal.

ocial media has evolved to be a speedily responsive, lucrative, and booming channel to propel your business forward. However, unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is less about selling and more about telling. On LinkedIn, blatantly pushing your products or services is highly frowned upon. In fact, LinkedIn can help build credibility for your brand. This is why having a strategic marketing approach for LinkedIn is very important. Different studies have shown that businesses marketing on LinkedIn generate 277% more leads on average than those engaged in Facebook marketing alone. LinkedIn is also the top choice for professionally relevant content, with 91% of executives choosing the platform. With these numbers, you can’t afford to bench LinkedIn if you want your business to ascend to greater heights.

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Although you can build your LinkedIn marketing strategy from scratch, these hacks will serve as an inspiration for your campaigns. Try out these three hacks to take your LinkedIn marketing game to the next level.

HACK ONE: Spy on Your Customers While many brands will sit down to create content marketing plans for LinkedIn without doing enough recon, we advise all clients to kick off their content marketing process by looking at analytics. For instance, if your brand is attracting users to your website and they are spending time on your page, the smart thing to do would be to find out what your users want to know about and give them more of it. It is hara-kiri to just jump into LinkedIn marketing without some research. Otherwise, you’ll blindly publish a lot of posts without

getting any viable results and get disheartened, not to mention your content efforts would go to waste. Instead, The smart strategy would be to monitor your website’s analytics first, then create content based on research to get high engagement on LinkedIn. You can make this even more powerful by checking your native LinkedIn analytics data to get an in-depth look at how your posts are performing. Third-party platforms are also available to analyze the growth and engagement rate of your company pages and get detailed audience demographics data to improve your content. This behind-the-scenes insight could prove powerful before you make a fresh play at marketing on the platform.

HACK TWO: Publish Content that Adds Value LinkedIn is one of those platforms which has very little patience for people who post sales-y messages or promotional material. You can only attract readers by adding value to the lives of your audience. B2B marketers who put their audience’s informational needs first make up 88% of the top performers in content marketing. A secret tip that I can give you is to make posting on LinkedIn a daily habit. For example, I make it a point to do a LinkedIn post every day before breakfast, and now that it’s part of my morning schedule, I never miss a post. On this platform, you need to create, share and publish content that serves some purpose–whether it’s to educate, inform, guide, inspire or entertain your audience. For instance, step-by-step guides to writing a good cold mail, making your first sales pitch, or creating solid customer profiles have been seen performing quite well. This improves the chances of getting your audience to engage with your content and building a connection with you or your company. When readers engage with your post, there’s a chance it’ll also show up in the feeds of their connections, further increasing your reach.

HACK THREE: Play with Numbers Many people who post on LinkedIn get disappointed when their posts and articles do not go viral. The reality is that if you post daily, your content starts gaining momentum on its own. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so you have to employ probability to hit that one viral post that makes your success look instantaneous. If you are one of those people who do not like to create content, here is a strategy that is being successfully used by an attorney friend of mine. He sends out connection requests

The smart strategy would be to monitor your website’s analytics first, then create content based on research to get high engagement on LinkedIn every Wednesday to 100 C-level executives. These requests will lead to about six responses, and two of those six will become clients. Therefore, instead of attending in-person events or doing cold calls, he has built up a very successful practice by spending a few hours each week of his time and doing it consistently week after week. There’s no reason why you can’t work along the same principles. Assess your LinkedIn profile and list groups of people you could establish connections with. These include people you’ve worked with, interfaced with at workshops and seminars, or whose advice and content you have found value in. Round that off with connecting with people in your domain whom you look up to and whose work you’d like to emulate. With these connections, you will come up with enough inspiration to start using LinkedIn more regularly, find inspiration for your own content and eventually see results. LinkedIn can be a powerful engagement hub for both brands and entrepreneurs. You can get a head start in your content marketing journey with these three hacks. Of course, some things are better done by experts, such as myself. If you would like very advanced strategies, reach out to me for a detailed discussion.  KISHORE CAN BE REACHED AT kishore@seosouq.com 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Serial Entrepreneur and a Crypto Expert

Dato Sheikh Jamal

PRO TALK

Crypto Currency

Understanding the Basics With everyone talking about cryptocurrency, it can be hard to understand its impact, and harder still to ask the right questions. Let’s take money back to basics to decrypt the hype around cryptocurrency

n ancient times, every person could have their ‘own currency’ for transactions wherein one could trade a live fowl in exchange for a bag of grain. We called it the barter system, but in today’s time, where we buy against the paper currency, isn’t this a barter too? Now, we’re way past paper money. Instead, digital currency is the talk of the town; Bitcoin has the world following its peaks and falls; Ethereum Token is legit, and how! But, before understanding digital currency, we need to understand its innate concept. Cryptocurrency is not the first step of a financial revolution. That was brought on by offline banking transactions, thanks to credit and debit cards. The term ‘credit card’ was first written in 1887 by an American author Mr. Edward Bellamy in his famous utopian novel, Looking Backward. Later, from the early 19th century to the 1930s, people started

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using charge coins and other similar items in various shapes and sizes. The merchants widely accepted charge coin in those days as a simple and fast means to copy the merchant’s account number to the sales slips. Debit cards made their debut in the late 1980s, creating another form of digital currency. New-age digital currencies, i.e., cryptocurrencies are developed on various blockchains. The number of live blockchains is growing every day at an ever-increasing pace. As of 2022, there are more than 18,000 active cryptocurrencies based on Coin base and Token base blockchains, with several hundred more non-crypto currency blockchains such as DeFi, NFT, and Metaverse.

Paper money no more Now let’s understand the fundamentals of fiat currency (paper currency) and crypto-

currency (digital currency). Fiat currency is managed by authorities on a centralized network backed up by sovereign governmental authorities, whereas crypto is a decentralized blockchain on public ledgers. Coin-based crypto lives and grows on speculation and market trends and is unregulated, whereas tokenized crypto is based on serious business, with tangible assets and strict regulation. We accept fiat currency as our general daily trading token, governed by centralized banks and issued by sovereign authorities. However, cryptocurrencies are like a harkening to ancient times, a public currency, managed democratically. It’s the reason why many merchants and traders are currently creating the right ecosystem to accept cryptocurrency. Does money grow on the trees? Today, we can affirm that it does (blockchain branches). Anyone can create a cryptocurrency and use it as their ‘currency of choice’ provided the merchant agrees to accept it, just like in old times. The value of cryptocurrencies is determined based on their demand and supply, especially the value of coin-based crypto. Tokenized crypto value depends on the business growth and ecosystem behind it. Cryptocurrency finds more acceptance amongst millennials or Gen Y when compared to Gen-X, which is our parent’s generation. Nowadays, many of us invest in cryptocurrency, but do we know which are coin-based and which are token-based? To do so, we can check the portfolio of the cryptocurrency on coinmarketcap.com and learn about its behavior. There, you can find hundreds of success stories among the thousands of cryptocurrencies that have been created till date and more to come. A good market tip is not to chase only the popular cryptocurrencies but rather to pursue those which have more to offer as a return on investment. If you asked me what kind of cryptocurrencies I invest in, I would only opt for tokenized-based cryptocurrencies. They are highly regulated and backed by real businesses and real assets. Having said that, I also look into the people behind the cryptocurrency as well, for this is a space where expertise holds leverage.

Subject to risk? Here you would point out, isn’t it risky to invest in cryptocurrency? Frankly, every investment comes with its own pros and cons and calculated risk. What we can do to minimize risk is to get informed. Tokenized crypto is essentially issued to raise funds or crowdfunding, so investing in

Coin-based crypto lives and grows on speculation and market trends and is unregulated, whereas tokenized crypto is based on serious business, with tangible assets and strict regulation

them is akin to buying IPOs in stock markets. The funds raised are later utilized in various kinds of business. But, of course, as demand and innovation go, some businesses do lose and some businesses make a profit, so you want to assess how the cryptocurrency issuer minimizes the risk and what kind of ecosystem has been created behind the currency. A lesser-known fact is that an ecosystem is significant for every currency, be it fiat currency or cryptocurrency. The merchant’s acceptance is vital to create a genuine ecosystem and a pool of people using the preferred Cryptocurrencies. There are many crypto exchanges in the digital world handling these cryptocurrencies. Even with all said and done, the legal aspect of crypto still keeps us on the fence. It’s important to remember that fiat currencies are issued by sovereign governments. They have also signified the currencies of the future in the form of medium terms notes (MTNs), so there is no way that a state or central government would easily accept cryptocurrency as a legal tender. It is also harder to impose taxation on cryptocurrencies, and the ecosystem for fiat currency is stronger than that of newly minted cryptocurrency. The reason why cryptocurrency faces such resistance from administrative and central banking forces is rooted in its decentralization. If my choice of cryptocurrency is accepted by any individual merchant, then approval of a governing body ceases to be relevant as it is private affair, but governments which we elect to run our nations find it exceedingly difficult to tax the Cryptocurrencies users on these transactions, which hurts the country’s ecosystem. As for my individual opinion, cryptocurrency should be accepted as a parallel or alternate currency. To increase its legitimacy and acceptance, the governments can impose a system of income tax or sales tax on it, similar to that on fiat currency transactions, a model of which was recently seen in India’s budget, though the 30% tax on each transaction wasn’t clearly explained – would it be on total amount or on the capital gain? With changing trends and a growing cry for autonomy and decentralization, it is in the best interest of governments to catch up with the mindset of their populace and embrace digital currency as the next step in the financial revolution which is accordance with the Industry 4.0 Revolution where IoT and Fintech combine to create stronger economic growth.  DATO SHEIKH JAMAL CAN BE REACHED AT https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsj 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Serial entrepreneur, Speaker and Author

David Tee

PRO TALK

Product Prototype

The Development Curve In this series of Being a CEO of a Startup, we look at some of the issues relating to product development, marketing, and legal protection

he role of CEO / founder in a startup is probably one of the most diverse jobs it is possible to have. You do everything from buying the printer paper to paying the bills to develop the strategy. But diversity is also the reward as you see your whole business grow and appreciate what went into that success. In this series, I will consider some of the things I have learned over 35 years in and around startups and share some advice for new CEOs. This month, we look at some of the issues relating to product development, marketing, and protecting yourself legally.

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Cook up: Prototyping is a key part of the design and implementation process. Many development models – design thinking, Lean Startup, MVPs (minimum viable product), living labs, etc. – promote the need for prototypes to test with potential customers to finetune the features and functionality of your product. It is an iterative process, and many prototypes may be developed on the road to a final product design. It may seem time-consuming but do it anyway. The more customer testing before committing the design will ensure a better fit with the market and more sales in the long run.

Knock up: So knocking up a quick and dirty prototype will help you rapidly gauge interest in your product or service. The classic MVP. Something that can be presented to potential customers or investors that shows the possibility of what the full product might do but doesn’t require the full resources of the company to build. Knocking up an MVP can save you huge amounts of time and money in the early stages of development by ensuring that you are building something that customers actually want. If they don’t, you can pivot early into something they do.

Mock up: With product development, be it hardware or software, making mock-ups is the best way to test ideas with customers or investors. Dummy screens, 3D-printed prototypes, even PowerPoint slides, can all be used with minimal investment for maximum impact. There are plenty of online design services available now to help you show what your product or service might look like once it’s created. Use them to full effect.

Run up: The run up to the launch of a new product needs careful planning. When is the right moment to launch this product into the target market? Are there particular (annual) events that gather potential customers? Are you going for a big splash or a viral campaign? Do you need physical marketing materials? There is a lot to plan and execute. I have found that only a real deadline - such as an annual exhibition - will galvanize the product teams into finishing. Soft deadlines come and go. As Douglas Adams famously said, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

Draw up: Drawing up legal documents is a blessing and a curse. You need a shareholder/partnership agreement right away – before you invest your initial capital and well before you launch your business! All other documents can wait. If you have a lawyer in, or close to your team, they will pressure you to create a raft of documentation to ‘protect’ yourself. At my first startup, we were convinced to develop a sales contract to get customers to sign when they bought our products. It was 20 pages long and cost a few thousand pounds. We never used it. Customers refused to sign it and made us sign their procurement agreements instead. And they paid us anyway. Protecting your intellectual property, however, can be useful. Certainly, trademark your

The run up to the launch of a new product needs careful planning. When is the right moment to launch this product into the target market? company name, logo, tag line, etc. Copyright your marketing materials. But think very carefully before going down the road of patenting your inventions. Do the patent search to make sure you are not infringing upon anyone else. Perhaps start developing the materials you will need to execute a patent, but don’t engage a patent attorney until your (potential) investor insists and get them to pay for it. Patents will cost you tens of thousands if you want to be covered across Europe, the US, and some other key markets. Patents basically put into the public domain your ideas and IP; anyone can then see what you are doing. If a large foreign company then decides to just take your idea and develop a product, it is up to you to sue them for infringement. If you thought the cost of getting the patent was high, you will be shocked at the legal cost of defending it. I’m not saying never, but do it with eyes wide open and with the support of investors. J DAVID CAN BE REACHED AT davidphtee@gmail.com 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Artistic Activism

Zaahirah Muthy is a savvy entrepreneur who firmly believes in the act of giving back to society. Pallavi Biju sits down with the Founder and Managing Director of ZeeArts to talk about her passion connecting women through art

magine shifting to a new home as a child, and the first thing you do is create masterpieces on the freshly painted white walls. Of course, for most of us, we would see all hell break loose right in front of us as our parents yell at us for “scribbling” on the walls. Fortunately, Zaahirah Muthy’s parents allowed her to use the house’s white walls as her canvas, and looking back, she believes that the incident changed the trajectory of her life. “Perhaps if they stopped me, I wouldn’t have been an artist today,” she says, recollecting her fond memories. The Founder and Managing Director of ZeeArts, an organization that brings together artistic talent from around the world as well as the brain

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behind Art Connects Women, Zaahirah believes that giving back to society is the basis of all human happiness.

An Art House Originally from Mauritius, Zaahirah invested her time back home entirely in the service of others and even received two awards from the Ministry

of Youth and Sports, Mauritius, for her contribution to society and her charitable work. When she settled in Dubai in 2011, she felt a hole in her heart. “When I was here (in Dubai), although I loved this place and what I was doing here, I missed the social work I did back home,” says Zaahirah. “That’s why I created ZeeArts in 2012, just a year after I decided to settle here.” Set about with the aim of bringing artists from around the globe together, Zaahirah and her team went on to launch the ZeeArts Gallery in 2017. A participant of the UN Global Compact since August of 2021, ZeeArts Gallery acts as a global art incubator with the sole mission of connecting artistic talent in various disciplines through artistic initiatives and proj-

ects. In addition, ZeeArts Gallery has also launched a contemporary fine art online gallery dedicated to encouraging, promoting, and empowering artists as well as providing Art Consultancy services to corporates, developers as well as individual investors in the GCC region, proving itself to be a unique organization for all things art.

A Strive Towards Gender Parity As an Ambassador for Women in Africa and a UN Global Compact Ambassador, Zaahirah is highly passionate about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal No. 5: Gender Equality. However, to this day, art is considered to be a predominantly male-dominated industry, while women consider it to be more of a hobby than a career. “In the art industry, women artists are valued much lesser than male artists,” comments Zaahirah on her decision to create a program that empowers women artists. “Even if you go to museums, you will see artworks of many male artists but not of women.” What started as a convention of 20 artists from 20 countries in 2017 is now on its 5th edition boasting 114 artists. Set to take place on 8th March 2022, the event places focus on growth and getting back on one’s feet with the theme of “Rise to Rejoice”. Just like every other industry, the art industry also faced a rough patch during the pandemic, and with this year’s theme, ACW recognizes that the same challenges are also what led to growth and change while helping shift lenses to acquire fresh perspectives. The previous editions showcased the works of 100 female artists from 100 different countries, and 90% of the artists that have participated in ACW have seen a boost in their careers, making the event a steppingstone to success for their participants. The event not only empowers artists but also makes them the master of their own vocation by making them feel special. “We want to create an experience for them, not just another event. We strive to find ordinary women who are doing extraordinary artistic work and bring them to the forefront, making them the focal point,” says Zaahirah. She lovingly recalls the anecdote of a French artist who had

never stepped out of her village being moved to tears when she saw her art being displayed in one of the most exuberant cities in the world, Dubai. And that’s exactly what makes Art Connects Women so different from other initiatives of the kind. ACW creates moments of  Art connects happiness and unforgettable experiences for Women 4th Edition 2020 all its participants. The

“Please support this initiative. The team has put a lot of time and effort into making this event such a big success and to support the dreams of all these wonderful artists,” urges Zaahirah. Conveying her deepest gratitude to her entire team as well as her current sponsors, Zaahirah ensures that the event will do what it is capable of doing: completely transforming the lives of its participants.

A participant of the UN Global Compact since August of 2021, ZeeArts Gallery acts as a global art incubator with the sole mission of connecting artistic talent in various disciplines through artistic initiatives and projects

event also features a conference and award ceremony to celebrate the sublime pool of artistic talent. This year, ACW will also be launching the 3rd edition of ‘Women Artists Around the World’, a high-end coffee table book.

Got It Down To A Fine Art However, the road to success has not been an easy one. The biggest challenge ACW faced was to find sponsors.

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The next step for Art connects ACW is globalization. Women What has up until now Conference been a Dubai-baby is 2020 now receiving interest in being taken abroad to Europe, Asia, Africa, and many other places. With Zaahirah and her team putting their best foot forward, there is no doubt that they will change the lives of many artists around the world.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / tr avel

LOSE YOUR HEART TO

LISBON After Barcelona, London, Tokyo, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires, the Sónar Festival is arriving in Lisbon this year! CLARILDA SHARON forays into the first edition of this pioneering cultural event in Lisbon to bring you some groovy travel ideas for a good time!

or the first time ever, Lisbon, one of Europe’s most vibrant cities, will play host to bring together creative people from different disciplines and communities from every corner of the globe to Sonar, one of the largest and most recognized music festivals of its kind in the world. It is debuting in the Portuguese capital this year. This exciting new event will showcase an eclectic mix of electronic music, visual arts, and technology for three days and two nights from the most prolific artists and DJs in the world. Launched in Barcelona in 1994, Sónar is known as the Mecca for advanced and electronic music and has created a loyal audience in more

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than 50 different cities around the world ever since. Positioned at the cutting edge of the electronic music landscape and its interactions with digital culture, Sónar has rightly earned its first-class reputation as an international festival that sets an unrivaled benchmark. Attracting over 100,000 festival-goers with live shows thumping out round the clock, this festival is at the forefront of innovative music, as well as the latest trends in dance, creativity, established and upcoming talent,

and music technology, making it one of the most extravagant music festivals in the world. Set to take place from 8-10 April 2022, playing by the Sónar philosophy of unique venues and environments, the Sónar Lisboa will be split into Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night with more than 70 shows. The daytime show will occupy the fringes of the city from Factory at Hub Criativo do Beato to a Sónar Village located in the old terminal of Santos by the river. Talks, debates, workshops, immersive experiences, digital art exhibitions, conferences, meetings between professionals and the general public are

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the highlights of Sónar by Day, exploring intersections between technology and research, between music and science. Over three days, the programme will use virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and visual arts to explore the key theme “our planet, humanity, and sustainability”. And as the sun sets, the best producers and DJs in the world will begin the party of music and dance featuring high-quality live performances. Sónar by Night will take place at the emblematic venues of Coliseu dos Recreios, Pavilhão do Rio, Lisbon Congress Center, and Pavilhão Carlos Lopes. The sheer expanse of artists, the variety

of shows, the uniqueness of the locations, and the richness of cultural texture are factors that make this that unmissable big event to bring you into revelry in a post-pandemic world. Uniting established artists with emerging talent, Sónar Lisboa will draw attention to an outstanding array of DJs and artists with live performances and electric energy on the dance floor. Among them are two of the UK’s most prominent electronic duos Bicep and Overmono, along with Venezuelan singer Alejandra Ghersi better known as Arca. Meanwhile, artists Charlotte de Witte, Ellen Allien, and Dr.

/ Beyond Business

(Clockwise) Overmono Bicep, and Arca will perform at Sónar festival in Lisbon

Sónar is known as the Mecca for advanced and electronic music and has created a loyal audience in more than 50 different cities around the world ever since 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / tr avel Rubinstein will be seen pushing the techno boundaries and combining electronic music with hip-hop. You’ll witness DJ Shadow performing at the debut event and catch Jayda G and The Blaze as they bring in booming energy and boundless enthusiasm. Ugandan DJ extraordinaire Kampire, Angolan star Pongo, Plus 8 label head Richie Hawtin, Thundercat, and up to 77 renowned artists from around the world will be seen mesmerizing the audience across 73 performances. While the city is going to pull out all the stops for three days, you can keep the party going by exploring every nook and cranny of Lisbon, Portugal. Take in the rich culture and explore the precarious streets of this coastal

 Tram 28  CaféRestaurante Martinho da Arcada  Pavilhão Carlos Lopes

city spread across seven hills and straddling the Tagus River. There is a plethora of history hiding in the grand palaces and heritage districts, but there is scenic beauty too. Here’s how you can make the best of Lisbon:

Hop on the Tram 28 Lisbon is a city famed for its historic, rattling Tramlines, and no journey would be complete without riding the famous Tram 28! Inaugurated in 1914, these singular yellow “boxes” are a part of the city’s soul, and a ride on this wooden tram with its signature ringing bell is sure to bring you back in time. Starting from the Praça Martim Moniz, the tram passes through the districts

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 Mosteiro De São Vicente De Fora

of Alfama, Baxia, Chiado, Graca, and Estrela, taking you through the narrowest of streets past some of the finest monuments and lookouts Lisbon has to offer. You’ll capture the most gorgeous views of Lisbon and discover decades of history as the tram rumbles along and navigates the sheer gradients. The richly-decorated Mosteiro De São Vicente De Fora built in the 17th century dedicated to St. Vincent, 18th-century church Basilica da Estrela known for its huge dome and fine multi-colored marble interiors, and the Rua Augusta Arch adorned with statues of various historical figures are sights you’re going to want to look out for. Grab a sip at Lisbon’s oldest café - Café-Restaurante Martinho da Arcada as the Tram 28 ambles through Europe’s most picturesque plaza Praça do Comércio, with canary-yellow facades and home to a plethora of gorgeous 18th-century architectures, en route. While you may have to wait

for an hour for Tram 28 to arrive and squeeze-fit yourself in during peak tourist days, the views from the windows and the ride itself are sure to provide you with one of the best tours of Lisbon.

Visit the picturesque Alfama With a history dating back to the Moors of Africa, Alfama, the district between the Castle of São Jorge and the river Tagus is the historic heart of Lisbon. Today, Alfama glimmers with a charm like no other as its narrow streets and small squares brim with historical attractions along with excellent bars and restaurants. You’ll see great cathedrals like the Lisbon Cathedral, remains of old city walls, and hidden squares as you stroll through the colorful cobblestone streets. Don’t forget to grab a drink at the alfresco cafes that are aplenty and hit the cozy little restaurants and dozens of quaint

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shops. Take the Tram 28 that’ll drop you off at the highest point of Alfama!

Take a ride on the Elevador de Santa Justa Designed by a former student of the creator of the Eiffel Tower and finished in 1902, Santa Justa Elevator flaunts a distinct turn-of-the-century French style and is one of the most famous tourist attractions for its sweeping views of Lisbon. While Lisbon has so many incredible viewpoints, this elaborately Gothic wrought-iron lift crafted from cast iron and adorned with filigree reaches seven stories high with two old-fashioned cabins that’ll take you up to the nearly 150-foot-tall. It connects the lower streets of the Baixa with the higher Carmo Square, and the top gives a close angle of the Carmo Convent ruins, standing as the monumental reminder of Lisbon’s devastating earthquake of 1755.

Meet over 15,000 sea creatures at Oceanário de Lisboa If the many historic sites of the city have left you overwhelmed, relax by visiting one of the world’s largest aquariums and be blown away. With puffins, penguins, jellyfish, sunfish, stingrays, and playful sea otters all splashing around in enormous

tanks, this expansive aquarium is inhabited by 15,000 animals and plants representing over 450 different species, in 30 tanks containing more than 7000 m3 of seawater recreating the Earth’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Discover all fascinating things about the ocean as you tour the aquarium and hang out with these adorable animals. Along with a peek into life under the sea, the Oceanarium also

 Elevador de Santa Justa  Alfama

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later used as a fortification for the Romans. With its oldest parts dating from the 6th century, the attraction has kept much of the building’s relics intact, including canons spread throughout underground chambers and eighteen towers. Castelo de São Jorge is now an oasis of peace housing a restaurant and a small archaeological museum in three underground chambers. You can climb the towers and walk along with the most breathtaking views of Lisbon or relax in the gardens where wildlife frequently makes appearances and struts around.

Mark Lisbon on your calendar!

offers a variety of activities, from guided tours to a sleepover with sharks and even a Fado show.

The Castelo de São Jorge Set high on one of the highest hills in Alfama, Castelo de São Jorge (St. George Castle), an impressive monarch castle, offers both excellent history and views of the city. Built by the Moors people in the mid 11th century, it served as the Royal Palace from the 13th-15th century and was

 Rua Augusta Arch

When you ask people about their favorite cities in the world, Lisbon pops up in the conversation because it’s more than just a super instagrammable city located on the Iberian-Atlantic coast. Especially during fests, you’ll be fascinated to see everyone on the streets, eating, drinking, singing and dancing, and having a jolly good time. Loaded with a wonderful atmosphere of friendliness, charm, great food, and nightlife, Lisbon is worth a tour to be put up on your calendar along with the Sónar Lisboa 2022.  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / health

ith consumers recognizing the tangible impact left by nutrition choices on health, wellness, the environment, and animal welfare, Veganism is on its way to become a way of life for nearly 8% of the global population. Veganism has touched the lives of people due to its long-term health benefits, as well as its contribution to the sustainable food movement. As an environmentally conscious practice, the once little-known fad is garnering an increasing number of followers, especially with the younger generation. This trend is gaining rapid traction among fitness enthusiasts, nutritionists, and restaurateurs even in the UAE. An explosion of interest and curiosity around plant-based foods, concerns about overall physical health, sustainable living, and conversations about the conditions of animals we consume have made veganism a global movement. However, critics have raised concerns about losing

VEGANISM A New Lifestyle Want to go Vegan? Deepika S gives you a rundown of this plant-based diet to understand how it works, and a way to make a switch to this new lifestyle

out on critical nutrition and hence are wary of an off-balance diet that could do us more harm than good. As veganism advances from an option to a complete lifestyle and diet preference, we must pose the question, can going vegan really improve your health for the better?

Why Join the Vegan Wave?

The rise of the vegan wave is not without good reason. This plant-based diet claims to help in weight loss, although that’s not the only factor why you should adopt it. If done wholeheartedly, incorporating a range of plant options, a vegan diet will make you feel energetic and also increase your metabolism since it is devoid of animal fats. When vegan foods such as beans, lentils, and

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nuts are rightly consumed, they tend to be lower in saturated fat while rich in fiber and other protective antioxidants. Research indicates that a vegan diet could minimize your risk of suffering from heart disease and lower blood pressure. In addition, these habits better control and manage insulin spikes in diabetic patients, a disease prevalent across the world and especially in the Middle East. You might be concerned about skipping out on red meat and egg yolks as they are iron-rich sources, but you are protecting yourself from the high cholesterol content. As a substitute, good plant sources of iron include black-eyed peas, tofu, and dried fruits (fresh fruit has iron, too, you just get more iron from dried fruit because you consume more of it).

Time for a change

Going by the Islamic calendar, with Ramadan around the corner, a vegan diet is highly recommended. Since

to food. Once you embark on the path to veganism, you may feel motivated or even obligated to adopt an ethical and sustainable way of life which extends to the products you consume, clothes you wear, cosmetics you use, among many other factors that make up our lives. However, you need to understand that you do not owe anyone a commitment to veganism or mimic somebody else’s journey into it; you can adhere to it only as much as your lifestyle and preferences allow you.

Availability Of Items

it’s less acidic, it makes the body alkaline preventing indigestion and acidity issues which are commonly experienced when people end their fast after long hours of abstaining from meals. The path to veganism is personal. To make a successful transition, you need to believe in the power of fresh and nutritious food as the ultimate cornerstone of healthy living. If you are a meat-eater, gradually eliminate that from your diet, then move on to minor changes such as swapping from dairy milk to oat, almond, or even coconut milk. Taking it one step at a time gives your body time to adjust.

Falling short

On the downside, veganism can limit the food options you allow yourself to consume. Furthermore, if you lack diversity in your diet, you can develop key deficiencies such as vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and zinc. Additionally, when dairy (from cow’s milk) is out of the question, finding substitutes can be challenging to get used to. Vegans also run the risk of developing a Vitamin B12 deficiency which can cause considerable irreparable damage to the human body. Since vitamin B12 primarily comes from animal products, people following a vegan diet are at significant risk of developing a deficiency of this vital nutrient. Hence, if you are on a vegan diet, you might consider taking a vitamin B12 supplement to help your body function correctly. Another challenge lies in the details, for veganism is meant to be a sustainable way of life, not just limited

Veganism can be an expensive lifestyle if your options are limited or you don’t have the right stores around you. If you’re buying organic or readymade food, prices can be considerably higher, but in case you opt for markets or cheaper supermarkets, it is more affordable. The cost is subjective depending on your appetite and your shopping requirements. Multiple factors such as items you consume, quantity, organic or inorganic, location and accessibility can easily influence the availability and average cost of your meals. With soaring requests from conscious consumers and vegan followers, supermarkets in UAE are moving The path to towards providing a wider veganism is personal. variety of plant-based foods. To make a successful Popular hypermarket chains such as Carrefour, Spinneys, transition, you need and Waitrose offer qualito believe in the ty, highly nutritious, and good-value products from power of fresh and all over the world, as well nutritious food as the as locally produced options ultimate cornerstone such as the ‘SpinneysFOOD’ plant-based range of deliof healthy living cious, easy recipes for its customers to enjoy.

Impact Of Veganism

A study conducted by Oxford Martin School researchers claims that if the world went vegan, together we can save up to 8 million human lives by the year 2050, minimize greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by two-thirds, cut healthcare costs globally and avoid climate damage worth $1.5 trillion. Going the vegan route is entirely up to you, but the newer generation is gunning for this shift. The youth is set on creating a more empathetic society that does not build itself at the expense of helpless animals or the overexploitation of nature. Thus, the brands they choose, the food they eat, and of course the clothes they wear are starting to reflect that. It is safe to say that veganism isn’t just a fad anymore. Are you a vegan or becoming one soon?  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / auto

THE LEXUS NEXUS

Few things spell status like the LEXUS NX 2022 EDITION. DEEPIK A S takes a look at this comfort and luxury-led auto that will mesmerize hybrid-hunters

Design

The exterior • The font, rear, sides, and even the bottom of the vehicle have been entirely reimagined and developed to boost overall aerodynamic performance. • With long, sleek hood fins surrounding the rear bumper and a truncated rear end, watch out for its exceptional handling stability. • The exterior shows an eyecatching form, modeling large surface units across a new dynamic framework, ensuring the vehicle glides and showing its large highway capacity. • Lexus’s design language has evolved as the NX now pursues “simplicity rooted in technology” and “uniqueness’’ in proportion contributing to its dynamic

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performance. • The vehicle boasts a longer and wider body while also striking 20-inch wheels—the largest ever sported on an NX. Cabin style and interiors • The interior focuses on creating a welcoming and hospitable space for passengers. Using the Tazuna Concept for the cockpit, takes Lexus’ core humancentered approach to another level, inspired by the metaphor of a horse and its jockey. • The interiors aim for supreme comfort as your body touches only the luxurious leather, thanks to redesigned seats, headroom and legroom, and additional space in the rear cargo area. • The interiors are draped in rich, luxurious colors such as dark rose, rich crème, Rroja red, and Black Prism.

Efficiency and Mechanics Engine and Performance • This time, the NX 2022 features a bigger engine to boost power, producing an impressive 275 horsepower compared to 235 HP in the previous model. • Overall, test drives proved the unexpected capability of the vehicle to handle both deep sand and snow. However, its performance on paved surfaces was not too impressive. • With the base engine pushing out humongous horsepower from 2.5 liters and 4 cylinders, the vehicle offers a typically enhanced SUV capacity and performance.

Tech and Infotainment • Changes in the 2022 edition of

the Lexus NX focus on boosting

Near Misses

The new NX is miles ahead of the SUV it substitutes, but its humble base engine, middling ride and handling, in addition to mediocre interiors, fail to attract hybrid hunters in the auto sector. On the other hand, the infotainment issues have been rectified and have crossed buyer expectations.

Nemesis

The NX350 clearly rivals the Acura RDX, with the 275 HP (5 HP less than the RDX) but more torque. Similar to it, they had a new tech interface done, which should spread throughout the lineup over the next two years.

Price point

With a starting price of AED 190,000, the Lexus NX beats rivals such as the BMW X1. The average market price is around AED 211,666.

the car’s driver first experience by personalized panels displaying driver information projected on two multi-instrument screens giving the indoors a futuristic look • Currently, the newly available media and sound system include Mark Levinson PurePlay Surround Sound with Clari-Fi affording it a very club-esque feel while also eliminating road noise or any other external car sounds, creating a certain stillness which enables you to enjoy the sound system more. • Convenience is also enhanced with new additions such as a color Head-Up Display and Digital Rearview Mirror.

Safety • The updated pre-collision sys-

tem is designed with preventative action in mind so that you know of oncoming cross traffic before-

hand at an intersection to avoid collisions. • The technology can intuitively slow the vehicle when it detects a pedestrian in its path. This suite of class-leading standard active safety equipment is to date the most comprehensive safety system ever included in a Lexus. • The lane tracing assist feature keeps your car centered in the lane, while steering assistance makes changing lanes smoother than ever before. It is designed with convenience prioritized, in traffic and on highways that curve gradually.

X-factor

Interior lighting can pose a problem for passengers. However, the all-new NX gives passengers the chance to customize the lighting to their own personal preferences. Responsive LEDs and easy-touse controls allow individuals to choose from a blend of 64 varying colors to ensure that their travel matches their personal style and current mood.

When does it launch? Lexus NX hit the roads on 3rd March 2022. J

2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / st yle

BEHIND D E S O CLDO

ORS

Having somet an organis hing to ed war drobe wear. is key T h i s ar tic closet le tells to always and co ha y me ou t dress ou how to g ving o into ed en p the ointe

Kenisha Sabnani Stylepreneuer/ Fashion Educationist Founder at www.kenishastyles.com

ou all must have been familiar with ‘I have nothing to wear’, despite having an almirah full of clothes. Research has shown that 80% of the time, you end up wearing only 20% of the wardrobe. So why do you think that this dilemma or crisis of clothes arises? Most of you have plenty of beautiful outfits to choose from, but they often end up being hidden in a jumbled mess. Shelves overflow, hangers are twisted, and clothes, shoes, and belts are stacked on the floor. You're not alone if this sounds like your closet. To be honest, closet turmoil occurs from time to time because we are all preoccupied with other necessary chores. However, if you start each day peering into an overflowing, cluttered closet, the rest of your day may feel disorganized and hectic as well. Worst of all, it isn't easy to feel and look your very best when your wardrobe is in such a mess.

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Well, one should make cleaning and organizing one's closet a priority. Cleaning out and checking your closet regularly is very beneficial for several reasons. Apart from preventing you from repurchasing items you already own, keeping your closet clean and organized allows you to put together more deliberate, intentional, and stunning outfits in less time. Furthermore, an organized closet will always help you style your outfits better. A good and presentable styling does not depend on the number of clothes you have; it depends on how you can create a look with whatever you have at hand and still look your best, feel confident too. Let’s take you through some tips and tricks on how you can effectively organize your wardrobe.

DECLUTTER YOUR CLOTHES Sorting your garments by type is a quick and easy

approach to decluttering them. Sort your items into several categories, such as pants, dresses, tops, outerwear, accessories, underwear, etc. Then, before moving on to the next category, sort through each item in that category. What makes this strategy superior is that comparing

similar clothes is much easier when they're all grouped together in front of you, making it easier to get rid of the stuff you know you have too much of or don't want at all. Decide to only keep the clothing you know you love and frequently wear as you sift through your belongings. 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / st yle

EMPTY AND CLEAN YOUR CLOSET Give your closet a

good once-over and pluck out anything else still lurking inside it once you've formed distinct 'donate' and 'keep' piles for your clothes, shoes, and accessories. Vacuuming the

carpet, wiping down the shelves, and scrubbing the scuff marks and dirt off the walls, should be done frequently.

Sort your clothes

into categories: Keep similar objects together. Keep all of your belts together, hang your sundresses next to each other, and keep your exercise clothing and pajamas separate.

KEEP YOUR MOST OFTEN WORN GARMENTS AT EYE LEVEL Keep everything you wear

on a daily basis in the middle of your closet at eye level so it's easy to find whenever needed. Place less-used goods directly above or below your most-worn items, and keep your mostworn items on the top shelf.

SEGREGATE YOUR CLOTHES ACCORDING TO COLOR CODES Sorting your clothes by

color can be time-consuming, but the result will make choosing an outfit a lot easier.

ANYTHING DELICATE, FANCY, OR WELL-MADE CAN BE HUNG You might have enough space to hang

every single T-shirt you own, but if you don't, keep to the obvious items. Dresses, skirts and undergarments are examples fancy and delicate things. Suits and solid, structured pieces like jackets and blazers essentially need to go on a hanger. 56

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DESIGN YOUR IDEAL CLOSET SPACE: TAKE NOTE OF THE BEST ELEMENTS OF YOUR CLOSET You might have a

lot of vertical storage, built-in shelving, or many hanging rods. Make the most of these opportunities. Determine what

you can do to improve the portions of your closet that aren't so fantastic - for example, your hardto-reach top shelves or a complete lack of shelving. Plastic

movable dressers or a small armoire concealed inside your open-plan closet might be beneficial. If you have too many shelves but not enough hanging space, consider removing a few and replacing them with hooks on the walls.

HIRE A STYLIST Stylists are professionals

who can help you best with this. They will evaluate your lifestyle and work with you to create a wardrobe that meets all of your requirements. Their expertise in wardrobe transformations are everything that one needs. They possibly work with everything that one requires on a platter so that finally, you will look and feel better. You will appreciate

how simple it is to actually style outfits for any occasion at any time of the day. These pointers will assist you in cleaning out, organizing, and maintaining your closet in the future as well. Having an organized wardrobe can result in big changes in style and personality. So try these, and thank us later!  2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / a spire+ An entrepreneur needs to know a lot. Way more than the business idea he or she is growing. ASPIRE brings you a range of know-how to have you effortlessly conversing with everyone you meet. Success is not what you do, it is how you do it…

READ it

DON’T LOOK UP

The World As We Should Know It

THE CONSOLATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY

Ever grappled with life’s big questions? Ever hurt from not being recognized? Ever been betrayed by someone you love? Have you ever been so ill that you prayed for the end to come soon? Have you ever felt less than equal to others and wondered what the point to it all is? The incredible modern-day philosopher Alain de Botton has taken all of life’s most distressing bits and broken it down into six key sections ranging from betrayal to failure. He has deconstructed what the philosophy great have said on these issues in the most easy-to-read, informationpacked narrative that is genuinely relatable. He explores what the greatest minds of humanity have told about the mundane humanness of us all. And what’s even better, it’s not a thick, dreary time. It’s a little book written with a light and gentle hand. It is a book we should all have on us at all times to get us through the business of life. Highly recommended!

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WATCH it

The Power of Philosophical Insight

The science fiction movies from the 70s and 80s did not get it that wrong, it would appear. The dystopian future they predicted is fast becoming a reality with incoherent content and a dissolute existence that has taken root in brand marketing, social media fanfare, and superficial lifestyles. DON’T LOOK UP has taken the world by storm. A professor and his student spot an extinction event asteroid that is due to hit Earth in six months. They try their hardest to alert world leaders only to be fobbed off by marketing experts, viewer ratings, and egomaniacal politicians and their flunkies who refuse to take them seriously. The movie has been criticized heavily by mainstream media channels, perhaps all the more reason to watch it, but it captures modern-day existence quite brilliantly. This allegorical take on the impending danger of climate change and human blindness to the future that is coming for us all is not to be ignored. Starring the inimitable Leonardo DiCaprio and an ensemble cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchette, Mary Streep, and Ariana Grande, this entertaining, thought-provoking film is the perfect way to kick back after a long day’s work and relook life, the universe, and your own role in it.

DO it

OUD

Warm Woody Sweetness

Improvise Your Existence

How to 10X your life

Speak Positive Words. When you talk trash, you produce trash. It can be no other way. Be around positive people. Don't pick up your device as soon as you wake up. Look at the view, pray, meditate, listen to a favorite song instead, just for five minutes. Eat some fruit every day. An apple, a pear, a banana, fresh pineapple. Eat it with complete attention to its texture and flavor and see how this alone can change your relationship with food in a very short span of time. Compliment three strangers a week. Kindness is in short supply. Do your bit. Limit your ‘scroll’ time. Be mindful of not spending multiple hours a day effectively doing nothing.

If it feels scary, do it right away. Use fear as a signal that it’s time to actually take action. Observe your patterns. Notice your behaviors and responses. Treat your life like script that can be constantly improvised. Remember that everything will change. It is all transitory and nothing remains the same. Whether you're celebrating or mourning or something in between, this too shall pass. Drink one more glass of water each day. Don’t pressurize yourself to get the recommended twoliters down perfectly. Just focus on drinking one more. Then add another. Read up on one thing you know nothing about. Google is your friend.

WEAR it

Ten things to incorporate into your life right now to make quick and meaningful changes

French perfumer and writer Jean-Claude Ellena once said, “Perfume is a story in odor, sometimes poetry in memory.” The beauty and richness of it is precisely why Oud has remained in vogue since time immemorial. A highly precious resin, also known as Agarwood, the Oud can be considered to be the signature scent of the Middle East. Known to be ‘seductive’, the scent of Oud is woody and rich with nuances, ranging from earthy to sweet. Depending on the tree species that produce the resin, some scents may also have hints of leather and spices. As a perfumery ingredient, Oud and its essential oil are among the most valuable and rare, sometimes even referred to as liquid gold. Among its best characteristics is its long-term persistence on the skin. As a result, the precious ingredient of artisan perfumery is often used to create particular fragrances. Even though oud adds a masculine touch to any fragrance, when blended with roses and soft notes, it becomes bursting with femininity. In fact, it is also known as the perfume of the Thousand and One Nights. An unforgettable, mysterious scent, there is no doubt as to why Oud is characteristic to the fragrance of the Middle East.

COMPILED BY SANGEETHA SHINDE 2 0 2 2 — M A R C H — ASPIRE

Beyond Business / the l a st word

A Question of Principle

There are some things in life we cannot and should not negotiate. Here’s why...

’m often being chastised for not having children. I’ve been told I’m selfish, a bad daughter, an unworthy spouse, and also that I’m simply not doing the right thing for the economy, because economic growth is driven by rising populations. Often, it’s avid curiosity I have to deal with - whether my uterus can do all it is meant to and if my partner is okay with my non-performance, whatever that means. Social propriety normally stops me from veering off into random conversations when it comes to the subject of children. That said, a complete stranger at an airport once asked me how many children I had. I told her 17, and they were all studying at Harvard. I just couldn’t help myself; plus she looked impressed rather than incredulous. I made the decision not to have children when I was 16. I made the decision for reasons of the environment as I believed that there were too many people and the planet was suffering as a result. This was at a time when the Internet was just a gleam in someone’s eye, and the Zuckerbergs were still in rompers. This was before veganism and global warming was a thing and long before Ms.Thunberg decided to annoyingly and erroneously tell children to quit school. People made fun of me. I was mocked all my child-bearing years and after. I was asked in a shocked whisper, “But who will look after you when you grow old?” I was scolded by a nun who told me the only purpose of marriage was to produce offspring. I asked her what of her marriage to God. Her look was withering enough to send me to her maker. Well almost... And then suddenly I was trendy. Veganism is the new revolution, and people are suddenly heroes for not having

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children. The simply fabulous Sir David Attenborough ratified my views, and the awesome Ricky Gervais approves of me, it seems. Unfortunately, though, no tax breaks for us visionaries yet. And so, here I am, childless at 50. Happily being hailed as a braveheart by the same people who not long ago were giving me unsolicited genetic advice. And I can’t help feeling a little smug. You see, the one thing life has taught me is to have principles rooted in a well-thought-out ethical foundation. And these principles will outlive any opinion anyone will ever have about you. Your principles or lack thereof will define what mark you make on the world and will be the rock you tether the boat of your life to in stormy seas. It will keep you grounded and keep you soaring all at the same time. The principles you choose for yourself will be more important than any house you buy, the person you marry, or any college you may attend. It is your most important investment, and you can make it any time. I urge you to start living according to principles now. As the wonderful Stephen Covey said, “There are three constants in life - change, choice, and principles.” 

Sangeetha Shinde Tee is an author of four books, editor of 3 international magazines, an acclaimed healer, and reluctant entrepreneur. Also an unconventional traveler, rebellious truth seeker, and inveterate animal rescuer, she is working on her fifth book - a collection of ghost stories from around the world. Find out more about her life, books, and work at www. sangeethashindetee.com

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